Six Bodies Aboard AirAsia Plane Evacuated

Jakarta, Dec 31 (Antara) - Three more bodies of the people on board of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 have been discovered in the Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, the Indonesian search agency authority said. As a result of the recent discovery, there have so far been six bodies that have been found by the Indonesian search team members,Chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) F. H. Bambang Sulistyo said here Wednesday morning. "One of the three new bodies is a woman wearing flight attendant`s uniform," Sulistyo told a press conference here. The six bodies had been evacuated but they had yet to be transported to the East Java city of Surabaya for a post-mordem examination by the police`s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), he said. However, 168 coffins had been available in Pangkalan Bun for the evacuation of the bodies to Surabaya, he said. The search operation and evacuation process on Wednesday morning was hampered by bad weather and high waves on the waters where the rescue workers found the wreckage of the ill-fated jet, luggage and the bodies. "But, two hours from now, the weather condition is expected to get better so that the search operation and evacuation process can be resumed," he said. For the purpose of this Wednesday`s search operation, Basarnas deploys 17 helicopters and nine aircraft which will comb two areas. "Eighty percent of our force have been in the targeted search areas but cannot yet move due to the bad weather condition and high waves," he said. The ground elements have also been ready for receiving the bodies from those involving in the sea and air operation to be then transported to Surabaya, Sulistyo said. The AirAsia jet carrying 155 passengers and crew members lost contact with Jakarta`s air traffic control tower on Sunday. Most of those on board are Indonesian citizens and seven are foreign nationals. The countries that also lost their citizens are South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, and France.