ABC News(SURABAYA, Indonesia) — Recovery efforts resumed Wednesday for AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 in the Java Sea, with seven total bodies retrieved but weather conditions are slowing efforts at the site, Indonesian officials said.
At this point, the bodies of four males and three females have been recovered, with all of the bodies intact. As the bodies are taken to Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya, officials will work to identify the victims.
Bambang Soelistyo, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, said dynamic updates should emerge as weather improves. Authorities are hopeful that sonar technology will reveal the wreckage location.
“We are expecting extra vessels — hopefully they will enter the area today,” Soelistyo said, speaking at a press conference. “They have tools to search objects under water. They will be the leading forces to be able to find a majority of the parts of the plane.”
One of the female bodies was found wearing a flight attendant uniform, Soelistyo said.
Indonesian officials have prepared 168 coffins for the crash victims, Soelistyo said.
The plane’s evacuation slide was recovered Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
AirAsia Ceo Tony Fernandes shared his perspectives on Twitter. “Reality of seeing the evacuees and some of my aircraft parts are soul destroying,” he wrote.
Debris and bodies from the crash were located Tuesday, two days after the plane went missing. Search crews are focusing Wednesday on a concentrated area — with 17 helicopters and nine fix-wing planes prepared to participate in search efforts.
Ships such as the USS Sampson are also involved in the search, U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs confirmed. The ship arrived in the Java Sea Tuesday and helped Indonesian crews discover debris.
“Sampson will remain on station as long as the Indonesian government feels they are providing useful assistance,” said Capt. Christopher Budde, operations director for U.S. 7th Fleet.
The water is less than 100 feet deep in the area where the objects were found, officials said.
The most telling piece of evidence will be the plane’s black boxes, which record the minute-by-minute account of what was going on both inside the engine and inside the cockpit, keeping track of what crew members were doing as well as the mechanisms.
Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control over the Java Sea during a flight to Singapore Sunday morning, shortly after the pilots requested a change of flight plan because of weather.
There were 155 passengers on board, with 137 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots, 4 cabin crews and one engineer, according to the airline.
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