Six more bodies recovered from AirAsia crash as divers gain access to fuselage

For the first time, Indonesian divers were able on Friday to enter the fuselage of the AirAsia jetliner that crashed last month into the Java Sea and retrieved six bodies, an official said. The operations chief at the National Search and Rescue Agency, Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, said the divers spotted more bodies inside the fuselage. Rescuers have been struggling with strong currents and poor visibility in an attempt to lift the fuselage of the Airbus A320 and what appears to be the plane’s cockpit from the seabed at a depth of 30m.

Today we have evacuated six bodies from inside the fuselage. Some other bodies are still there but their position among other debris made it difficult for our divers.

S.B.Supriyadi a rescue agency official

Bad weather is a suspected factor in the crash. The pilots asked to climb from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid threatening clouds but were denied permission by air traffic controllers because of heavy air traffic. Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan told Parliament this week that radar data showed the plane was climbing at an abnormally high rate, then dropped rapidly and disappeared. No distress signal was sent. Officials of the National Transportation Safety Committee have ruled out sabotage. Investigators are analysing data from the aircraft’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders with advisers from Airbus, the plane’s manufacturer.

Asia-Pacific AirAsia crash