From AirAsia Crash Site 7 bodie Were Recovered

   Indonesian authorities believe they have located a large
section of the AirAsia jet that crashed in the Java Sea, as the
search for victims was hampered by poor weather.

Officials said Wednesday that sonar images suggest a large
section of the plane is lying upside down on the bottom of the
sea, in an area officials say is only 30-50 meters deep
(100-165 feet).
But AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes later played down those
reports, saying there is "some visual identification, but
nothing confirmed."
Emergency workers pulled four corpses from the relatively
shallow waters Wednesday, bringing the number of bodies
recovered since Tuesday to seven. The bodies from the crash
scene have been taken for identification to a victim
identification center at Pangkalan Bun, in Central Kalimantan.
Pangkalan Bun is about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the
area where bodies were first spotted.
The first two bodies, which police said were of a woman and
a teenage boy, arrived in the city of Surabaya Wednesday.
Officials told The Associated Press that the other five bodies -
three males and two females - will remain on a warship until
the weather clears.
Wind and rain hamper search
Search-and-rescue agency officials said Wednesday waves of
up to three meters, strong winds and heavy rain prevented
rescue planes and helicopters from participating in an aerial
search of the crash site near the island of Borneo. However,
18 ships continued to scour the search area.
Search-and-rescue official Sunarbowo Sandi said bodies and
debris were being scattered by strong currents and monsoon
weather conditions.
“All the wreckage and bodies have drifted around 50
kilometers and we're expecting all the bodies will end up on
the beaches around here,” Sandi told reporters.
Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicted
conditions would worsen, with more intense rains, through
Friday.
The first traces of the plane were discovered Tuesday, not far
from where the Airbus A320 disappeared during a storm en
route from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday.
None of the 162 passengers and crew on board the plane
have been found alive. Many on board were traveling to
celebrate the new year with friends and relatives.
The search area was narrowed to 120 square nautical miles
and 22 ships continued to hunt for the remaining victims and
for the plane's black box, Dwi Putranto, a senior air force
official, told Reuters.
Investigators hope to determine the cause of the crash once
divers locate and recover the plane's cockpit voice and flight
data recorders.
President Joko Widodo met the victims' families in Surabaya
on Tuesday and promised "a massive search" effort, with
priority given to recovering bodies of the passengers and
crew.
Region drawn together
The tragedy has drawn the region together with offers of
assistance across the Asia Pacific area. Several nations
offered search and assistance to Indonesia - including
Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China, South Korea and the
United States.
While preliminary investigations have blamed the heavy
monsoon weather over the Java Sea for the accident in the
early hours of Sunday, Indonesian transport officials said
background checks were being carried out on all passengers
as part of standard procedures.
The destroyer USS Sampson is on the scene helping with the
search. A second ship, the USS Forth Worth , is standing by in
Singapore and will head to the crash site if needed.
The White House said the United States sends its
condolences to the families and loved ones, and stands by to
provide Indonesia with all the help it needs.
AirAsia's Fernandes has apologized to the families of the
victims, saying that as head of the airline, he will not run
away from his responsibilities. He said the company will
provide immediate financial assistance to the families.
Air traffic controllers denied the pilot's request to fly at a
higher altitude to avoid the storm because there were other
planes in the area. It tried to fly around the storm instead.
The pilot gave no distress call before the plane disappeared.
The passengers included 149 Indonesians, three South
Koreans, and one each from Britain, Malaysia and Singapore.