More AirAsia wreckage found, but weather frustrates divers

A multinational team searching for the wreckage of the crashed Airbus A320 found another large underwater object believed to be part of the plane, but persistent bad weather hampered efforts on Sunday to locate its black box recorders and recover bodies of victims. Indonesian officials say five pieces of wreckage have now been pinpointed on the sea floor off Borneo, where the jet crashed a week ago with 162 people on board. Divers were sent to investigate the debris early on Sunday, but diving had since been suspended due to bad weather, the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said. Weather forecasters say there could be a break later on Sunday in the wind and heavy seas that have dogged recovery efforts all week.

Weather should provide the search effort with a window of opportunity today, with lower waves expected for the next two days.

Rukman Soleh, weather bureau chief in Pangkalan Bun, the southern Borneo town where the search operation is based

Speaking at the same morning briefing for pilots, officials said efforts would be divided between recovering bodies and locating wreckage and the all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders. Until investigators can examine the recorders the cause of the crash remains unknown, but the area is known for intense seasonal storms and BMKG, Indonesia’s meteorological agency, has said bad weather was likely a factor. Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea last Sunday, about 40 minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s second largest city Surabaya en route for Singapore. There were no survivors. Thirty-one bodies of the mostly Indonesian passengers and crew have so far been recovered, including some still strapped in their seats. Many more may be still trapped in the fuselage of the aircraft.

World QZ8501