DVI TEAM IDENTIFIES BABY'S BODY OF AIRASIA QZ8501 PASSENGERS

Surabaya, E Java, Feb 2 (Antara) -- The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team of the East Java's provincial police has identified part of a baby's body as victim of the AirAsia flight QZ8501. The public relations officer of the East Java's police Senior Commissioner Awi Setiyono said here on Monday that part of the baby's body was sent to the police's Bhayangkara hospital on Monday at 11.00 a.m. local time. "We received part of the body at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday and it is now being identified. Thus, the police still identify 13 more bodies," Setiyono stated. According to him, the DVI team hasn't yet completed identification of the 13 bodies because most of them are not intact. The AirAsia Airbus A320-200 carrying 162 people went missing on the morning of December 28 after losing contact with air traffic control on its way from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore. Flight QZ8501 lost contact after the pilot sought permission to climb to 38 thousand feet from 32 thousand feet to avoid stormy weather over the sea between Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan. The aircraft carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members took off from Juanda International airport in Surabaya at 5:36 a.m. local time and lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. local time. The plane, piloted by Captain Iriyanto and First Officer (FO) Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time. Seven foreigners were among the passengers of the missing jet. The foreign nationals included three Koreans, a Singaporean, a Briton, a Malaysian, and the French FO.