Missing Air Asia Plane__Rescue officials recover 40 bodies

A spokesman for Indonesia's Navy, Manahan
Simorangkir Kadispenal confirmed the
discovery of the corpses bringing an end to
the search for Flight Q8501 which had 162
people on board.

Rescuer pulling out the corpses  of a man

Rescuers in Indonesia have recovered 40

bodies at sea near the last recorded location of

the missing Air Asia airplane, a spokesman for

Indonesia's Navy said on Tuesday, December

30.

The spokesperson, Manahan Simorangkir

Kadispenal confirmed the discovery of the

corpses to Reuters bringing an end to the

search for Flight Q8501 which had 162 people

on board.

Six of the bodies had earlier been discovered

swollen but intact, the Naval Aviation Center

commander at the Surabaya air force base,

Sigit Setiayanta, told reporters.

The airplane disappeared on Sunday,

December 28, » while making its way from

Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore.

In response to the discovery, the Chief

Executive Officer of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes

tweeted:

“My heart is filled with sadness for all the

families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of

AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot

express how sorry I am.”

Some debris had earlier been sighted floating

off the Kalimantan coast and the chief of

Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue

Agency, Bambang Soelistyo stated that he

was almost certain that it was the plane’s

wreckage. »

Debris believed to be from the wreckage