MOSCOW, December 30 (Sputnik) — Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) workers have discovered more than 40 bodies floating in the Java Sea most likely from AirAsia flight QZ8501, an Indonesian Air Force commander said Tuesday.
"Three bodies have been lifted by a team on the Bung Tomo ship," VIVAnews military portal quoted Air Force Commander Jhonson Simatupang as saying at the military base near the city of Pangkalan Bun.
My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences… http://t.co/OJGobL93cR
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 30, 2014
According to Simatupang, the bodies are scattered a good distance from one another.
Debris from the AirAsia Airbus are scattered in a five-kilometer (4.5 miles) zone at the entrance to the Karimat Strait, an area dividing the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesian VIVAnews agency reported, citing the Head of Basarnas.
AirAsia's Flight QZ8501, flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday morning. The Airbus A320-200 was carrying 155 passengers, mostly Indonesians, and seven crew members.
The missing plane, en route above the Java Sea, did not transmit distress signals prior to its disappearance from radar screens.
