Bad Weather Hampers Evacuation of AirAsia Disaster's Victims

Jakarta (Antara) - Bad weather hampered evacuation of the AirAsia aircraft disaster victims from the sea off Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan on Wednesday, a rescue team said. "The weather is bad with heavy rain and the waves are too high there," Head of Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) FH Bambang Soelistyo told reporters here on Wednesday. The search and rescue (SAR) team of the agency has so far evacuated six bodies following the discovery of three more bodies floating in the sea around 175 kilometers off Pangkalan Bun. The aircraft of AirAsia Indonesia flying from Surabaya to Singapore was declared missing on Sunday with 162 people on board, including seven crew members. The location of disaster was found on Tuesday marked with the floating bodies, luggage and small fragments of the aircraft in the sea. President Joko Widodo has ordered Basarnas to coordinate evacuation of the bodies of the victims. The agency has sent 20 divers to the location to help in the evacuation from the sea estimated to be around 32 meters deep. The divers are also expected to locate the black box in the aircraft believed to lie in the seabed. (*)