A navy ship has recovered at least 40 bodies in the search for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501.
Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue director SB Supriyadi said the bodies were brought onboard a navy ship.
The search and rescue operations began when an AirAsia flight between Indonesia and Singapore lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday.
“The warship Bung Tomo has retrieved 40 bodies and the number is growing. They are very busy now,” said a navy spokesman.
The bodies were found in the Java Sea, about six miles from where the plane last communicated with air traffic control. Reports also suggest an air force Hercules has “found an object described as a shadow at the bottom of the sea in the form of a plane”.
AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes said he was rushing to the scene and wrote on Twitter: “My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501.
“On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am.”
The missing Airbus A320 with 162 passengers and crew on board had requested a “deviation” from the flight path due to bad weather, the low cost carrier said.
Flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control at 7.24am local time. It had been due to arrive in Singapore at 8.30am
On Sunday, the airline said: “The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to en-route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian air traffic control.”
An Emergency Call Centre has been set up for those seeking information about relatives or friends who may have been on board the flight. The number is +62212927081.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were 155 passengers on board, with 137 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots, 4 cabin crew and one engineer.
The captain of the aircraft had a total of 20,537 flying hours of which, 6,100 flying hours were with AirAsia Indonesia on the Airbus A320. The first office officer had a total of 2,275 flying hours with AirAsia Indonesia.
The Airbus had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on November 16.