AirAsia crash: Severe weather hinders bodies evacuation

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PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia, Jan. 1 — Rescue and recovery fase setback as bad weather makes the helicopters fail to pick up the bodies from the Indonesian navy ship which earlier were found at the AirAsia crash site.

“Weather at the crash site is still dark, clouds are thick below 3,000 feet. Five bodies are still kept in Bung Tomo navy ship,” Air Vice Marshall Sunarbowo Sandi told a press conference at the command post center of AirAsia plane victims operated here on Wednesday.

Sunarbowo said bodies of one female and one male teenager were transferred to Surabaya for further postmortem examination. Seven bodies have been recovered so far by the Indonesian evacuation team.

Before being transferred to Surabaya, the two bodies were examined at a local hospital in Pangkalan Bun.

Facing the severe weather, Sunarbowo said, the Bung Tomo navy ship was told to move closer near the coastline to help with the helicopters’ transfer mission.

Indonesian Air Forces West Fleet Commander Air Marshal Dwi Putranto said 18 vessels from several countries are involved in further search on debris and bodies.

The ill-fate AirAsia flight QZ8501 had 155 passengers and seven crew members on board which disappeared from radars last Sunday some 40 minutes after departure from Indonesia for Singapore.(reports by PNA, Xinhua)

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