Six More AirAsia Crash Victims Recovered, 103 Unaccounted For

Indonesian Navy divers have found six more AirAsia crash victims Thursday in close proximity of the plane wreckage, which crashed into the Java Sea killing 162 people on board on December 28, 2014, Jakarta Globe reports.

Flight QZ8501 en route from Surabaya, Indonesia ended when it crashed into the Java Sea an hour after take-off, killing everyone on board. Recently, divers were able to uncover six more AirAsia crash victims, which is now a total of 59 bodies that have been found, and 103 are unaccounted for.

Among the 59 bodies that were discovered from the Java Sea, seven of which were the AirAsia crew members.

Some of the bodies were reported to have been strapped to their seats and some were even found near the plane wreckage. Authorities say the remaining victims may be trapped inside the 30-meter-long fuselage.

Navy divers have attempted to reach the fuselage on Thursday, but were unsuccessful due to the rough conditions of the sea.

The commander of the Navy western fleet, Rear Admiral Widodo, spoke with reporters about the conditions of the Java Sea. “It was very dark, visibility was very limited so our diving teams could not enter. However we still predict we can evacuate all the bodies from there.”

The commander also informed reporters of their plans to use air bags to lift the fuselage to the surface by Friday.

The official from Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, S.B. Supriyahdi, announce the findings of the six AirAsia crash victims. “We have found six bodies, four of whom were females and two males, all adults.”

Some of the victims contained their identification cards, driver’s license, and/or bank cards in their pockets, which helped investigators to identify their bodies. As of yet, 47 of the AirAsia crash victims have been identified.

There has been no information reported on whether or not officials informed the families of the identified victims.

It was reported by The Jakarta Post that there is also no word on the condition of the discovered bodies, but the Bahamas director of operations Commodore S.B. Supriyadi believes that the bodies may be decomposing.

Along with the recovery of 59 AirAsia crash victims, the plane’s black box flight recordings were also recovered from the Java Sea. The boxes will give clues as to how or why Flight QZ8501 ended in the Java Sea.

Although the cause of the AirAsia plane crash is still unknown, investigators have ruled out foul play.

[Image via NY Times]