Indonesian divers recover six bodies from AirAsia plane’s fuselage

INDONESIAN Navy divers on Thursday reached the crashed AirAsia plane’s fuselage and retrieved six bodies, an official said.

Divers managed to enter the fuselage after days of attempts frustrated by strong currents and bad weather.

We hope we can find more bodies,’’ Suryadi Supriyadi, the search operation chief, said.

He said that the fuselage would likely be moved to the surface using lifting bags.

The discovery brought the confirmed death toll from the accident to 59.

AirAsia chief executive, Tony Fernandes welcomed the news.

This is so important to all of us at AirAsia so we can return our guests to their loved ones,” Fernandes wrote on Twitter.

Flight QZ8501 was midway from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore when it crashed into the Java Sea with 162 people on board on Dec. 28.

Indonesia’s Transport Minister, Ignasius Jonan said on Tuesday that data received by air traffic control showed the aircraft climbing too fast, which caused the engines to stall, before crashing into the Java Sea.

An initial analysis of the cockpit voice recordings found no indications of foul play,’’ investigators said.

Some findings might be released on Jan. 28,’’ the National Transport Safety Committee said, but the full preliminary report would not be made public. (dpa/NAN)