Divers Recover More Bodies from AirAsia Wreckage

The search and rescue divers have recovered six additional passengers located inside of the fuselage wreckage on the Java Sea floor.

The discovery of the fuselage was in 3000 meters from the point of discovery of the tail, or about 800 meters from the discovery of VDR (Voice Data Recorder).

The SAR operation of QZ 8501 passengers continued this morning, around the primary search area with slightly better weather and sea conditions.

Indonesia’s search and rescue agency has recovered a total of 65 remains of which 50 remains have been identified by DVI POLRI, 13 remains are still being identified and 2 remains have yet to arrive at Bhayangkara Hospital, Surabaya.

The Indonesian SAR vessels and divers on Friday managed to reach the fuselage of an AirAsia plane that crashed on December 28, but bad weather continued to hamper further efforts to check if there were bodies inside.

Nothing more important that finding all our guests and crew to their loved ones. I really really hope weather holds out. Thank you to all involved, said AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes

The plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered last week, and sent to Jakarta for the further analysis.

UPDATE: The search and rescue (SAR) team resumed the mission to float the fuselage wreckage from the Java Sea floor today (January 26, 2015). SAR vessels were mobilized around the focus area while divers were deployed into the sea to ensure the equipment such as ropes and lifting bags were properly attached. The floating mission unfortunately continued to be hampered by strong underwater current this afternoon. No additional recoveries were reported today.

The latest report confirms that a total of 70 remains have been recovered of which 52 have been identified.