The search for a sunken AirAsia jet thought to have crashed off Borneo was being boosted on Friday with the arrival of a specialist multinational
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The search for a sunken AirAsia jet thought to have crashed off Borneo was being boosted on Friday with the arrival of a specialist multinational team equipped with underwater acoustic detection devices.
Despite bad weather, the bodies of at least 16 people have been recovered after the Airbus 320-200 fell from the sky on Sunday en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
Some 162 people were on board. No survivors have been found.
Showing reporters wreckage from the flight, Indonesian officials stressed the search above water would also continue.
“We are conducting some special searches over the sea today and will do this with helicopters,” said SB Supriyadi, of the National Search and Rescue Agency.
“This is to look for bodies, floating objects, debris and passenger belongings.”
When found, he pledged “they will be recovered”.
As the first funerals take place, efforts will also be made to find the plane’s black box flight recorders.
But whatever they reveal is likely to be cold comfort to the grieving families of those who have lost loved ones.
Investigators are working on a theory that the plane stalled as it climbed steeply to avoid a storm.