REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA -- AirAsia Indonesia has commended the performance of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) of the Republic of Indonesia for successfully locating and retrieving AirAsia flight QZ8501's cockpit voice recorder (CVR).

"The CVR was located at a distance of approximately 20 meters from the point where the flight data recorder (FDR) was discovered," President Director of AirAsia Indonesia Sunu Widyatmoko stated here on Wednesday (14/1).

Sunu remarked that based on the results of Basarnas' operations, the FDR and CVR have been successfully recovered. Both black boxes have been sent to Jakarta for being analyzed by the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT).

"In the meantime, yesterday (January 13), Basarnas Chief Bambang Soelistyo visited the crisis center at the East Java Police Headquarters," he stated.

Sunu explained that the Basarnas chief had discussed about these activities with the families of QZ8501's passengers and employees. The Basarnas chief assured that rescue operations will be continued.

On the other hand, he added that Basarnas has retrieved as many as 48 bodies of the passengers. Around 36 bodies have been identified by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI).

"In addition, 12 other bodies are in the process of identification," he stated.

"Through this opportunity, we also advise people to refer to the information provided officially by the Basarnas and DVI police about the progress of the search, evacuation, and passenger identification," he noted.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the DVI team of the East Java Police identified two more bodies of the passengers of AirAsia flight QZ8501 that crashed near Pangkalan Bun waters, Central Kalimantan province, seventeen days ago.

The bodies have been identified as Oscar Desano (27), a male resident of Jakarta, and Yuni Astutik (40), a woman from Blitar District of East Java province.

"The body labeled 'B024' has been identified as that of Oscar Desano with the help of the primary identification data that matched his DNA with those of his parents," Head of the East Java Police DVI Team Senior Commissioner Budiyono noted here at the crisis center of the Police Headquarters on Ahmad Yani Street, on Tuesday.

The identification team also used evidence such as teeth to identify Oscar, who was one of the crew members aboard the ill-fated aircraft.

The second body, labeled "B039", has been identified as Yuni Astutik using primary data such as matching her DNA with that of her children.

"Her identification has been confirmed with the help of secondary data such as gender, age, and height," Budiyono noted, adding that CCTV footage and a description of her attire also proved helpful.

On the seventeenth day since the aircraft's crash, 36 bodies have been identified, while 12 are being examined by the DVI team.

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