After days of intense search for the AirAsia flight QZ8501 that went missing on Sunday, the bodies of victims and debris of the ill-fated plane have been found.
On Monday, Bambang Soelistyo, head of Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency, had said that the plane was likely to be at the bottom of the sea.
But Soelistyo has now confirmed that the plane actually crashed into the sea after losing contact with air traffic control on Sunday.
“I, as national search and rescue coordinator, at this moment confirm 95%, the location that’s pictured here is the location of the debris as well as objects that are suspected to have come from the plane,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
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“I haven’t seen with my own eyes the emergency exit door. But in communication with commanders on the ground they have stated that it’s the emergency exit door.”
The aircraft conveying 162 persons disappeared off radars after the pilots requested a higher altitude because of clouds in the flight path.
The Indonesian navy also said some bodies have been recovered and objects resembling parts of the plane found in the search area.
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“There was a man swaying on the waves. After I looked at the photo carefully on my laptop, I understood it was a human body,” a lieutenant of the Indonesian air force told local media.
The bodies found have been taken to an Indonesian navy ship, according to Supriyadi, the national search and rescue director.
He said the corpses were swollen but intact, and did not have life jackets on.
Several family members of missing passengers burst into tears or fainted when they saw footage of bodies floating in the water
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Compared to the Malaysian Flight 370 that disappeared on March 8, the pilots of the Air Asia flight did not send a distress signal across.
No wreckage from the MH 370 flight has been found in what has become the longest search for a passenger jet in modern aviation history.
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