BALI (Sputnik) — The rescue operation in the AirAsia flight 8501 search area in the Java Sea will come to an end after a week-long additional operation starting on March 9, the head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said Tuesday.
The main search and rescue operation has officially stopped after over two months of efforts, Henry Bambang Soelistyo said as cited by local news website Detik.com.
Bambang Soelistyo said he decided to introduce the additional operation for the search and recovery of missing bodies in response to numerous requests by the families of the plane crash victims.
The rescue agency earlier reported that it recovered 103 bodies, while a total of 162 people were on board the crashed Airbus A320-200.
The last large piece of the aircraft's wreckage was found in the rescue area on February 28.
AirAsia's Flight QZ8501, flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, lost contact with air traffic control and crashed into the Java Sea on December 28, 2014.
