Body of Air Asia stewardess found, black box still missing
December 31, 2014  10:22
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At least six bodies have been retrieved from the Java Sea off Indonesia where the ill-fated AirAsia plane carrying 162 people went down as rescuers were hampered by stormy weather today in their efforts to pull out the wreckage.

One of the bodies pulled out today was dressed in air stewardess uniform, said Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency Basarnas. The other two bodies were male, he told reporters at a press conference. Many bodies were seen floating around by the rescuers and efforts were being made to retrieve them.

Nearly three days after the AirAsia flight QZ8501 went off the radar, its debris was found yesterday in the Karimata Strait near Pangkalanbun, Central Kalimantan.

Three bodies, two female and one male, were retrieved yesterday while three more were pulled out by rescuers today to take the total number of of bodies found to six.

However, the efforts to locate victims and wreckage of the plane were hampered by stormy weather and strong tides.

Divers were to be deployed to search for bodies and for the plane's "black box" flight recorders but officials said heavy rain, strong winds and waves of up to 3 metres had forced them to suspend the air operation, though ships already in place were continuing the search.
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