1st of 9 bodies from AirAsia crash identified
SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — A
passenger aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 became the first victim of the crash to be
returned to her family Thursday, one of many painful reunions to come, as
search crews struggled against wind and heavy rain to find more than 150 people
still missing.
Hayati Lutfiah Hamid's identity was
confirmed by fingerprints and other means, said Col. Budiyono of East Java's
Disaster Victim Identification Unit.
Her body, in a dark casket topped
with flowers, was handed over to family members during a brief ceremony at a
police hospital in Surabaya, the Indonesian city where the plane took off. A
relative cried as she placed both hands against the polished wood.
The coffin was then taken to a
village and lowered into a muddy grave, following Muslim obligations requiring
bodies to be buried quickly. An imam said a simple prayer as about 150 people
gathered in the drizzling rain, and red flowers were sprinkled over the mound
of wet dirt topped by a small white tombstone.
The Airbus A320 crashed into the
Java Sea on Sunday with 162 people on board. Nine bodies have been recovered so
far, including two on Thursday. Remains are being sent initially to Pangkalan
Bun, the closest town on Borneo island, before being transported to Surabaya,
Indonesia's second-largest city, where Flight 8501 had taken off.
In the thick of Indonesia's rainy
season, the weather has frequently prevented helicopters and divers from
operating while strong sea currents have kept debris moving.
Relatives lower the coffin
containing the body of Hayati Lutfiah Hamid, one of the victims of
AirAsi …
Singapore's navy sent an unmanned
underwater vehicle capable of surveying the seabed to try to pinpoint the wreckage
and the all-important "black boxes" — flight data and cockpit voice
recorders. More than 50 ships, mostly from Indonesia, were scouring the area
with high-tech detection equipment. Aircraft with metal detectors also were
deployed.
We are "focusing on finding the
body of the plane," Indonesia air force spokesman Rear Marshal Hadi
Tjahjanto told reporters. "There was something like a dark shadow once
seen from a plane, but it cannot yet be proven as wreckage."
Sonar images have identified what
appeared to be large parts of the plane.
"It's possible the bodies are
in the fuselage," said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue
coordinator in Pangkalan Bun. "So it's a race now against time and
weather."
The longer the search takes, the
more corpses will decompose and debris scatter.
Relatives carry the coffin
containing the body of Hayati Lutfiah Hamid, one of the victims of
AirAsi …
Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas in
Australia said there's a good chance the plane hit the water largely intact,
and that many passengers remain inside it.
He added that bodies recovered so
far would have come out with a breach in the fuselage. "But most
passengers still should have had their seat belts on, particularly as the plane
was going into weather. The captain would have still had the seat belt sign
on."
It is unclear what brought the plane
down about halfway into its two-hour flight from Surabaya to Singapore. The
jet's last communication indicated the pilots were worried about bad weather.
They sought permission to climb above threatening clouds but were denied
because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the airliner disappeared from
the radar without issuing a distress signal.
The black boxes hold data that will
help investigators determine the cause of the crash but have yet to be
recovered. Items found so far include a life jacket, an emergency exit door, an
inflatable slide, children's shoes, a blue suitcase and backpacks filled with
food.
Relatives have given blood for DNA
tests and submitted photos of their loved ones, along with identifying
information such as tattoos or birthmarks that could help make the process
easier.
Relatives lower the coffin
containing the body of Hayati Lutfiah Hamid, one of the victims of
AirAsi …
The long wait, with its starts and
stops, has been frustrating for Sugiarti. Her 40-year-old sister, Susiyah, was
a nanny traveling to Singapore for a vacation with her employers and their
2-year-old daughter.
"I hope that they can find her
body soon. I feel sorry for my sister because it has already been five
days," she told reporters at a crisis center set up at a Surabaya police
station. "I am trying very hard to be patient."
Nearly all the passengers were
Indonesian, and many were Christians of Chinese descent. The country is
predominantly Muslim, but sizeable pockets of people of other faiths are found
throughout the sprawling archipelago.
McDowell reported from Pangkalan
Bun, Indonesia. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini, Ali Kotarumalos and
Margie Mason in Jakarta contributed to this report.
(http://news.yahoo.com/weather-lets-briefly-airasia-search-071953836.html)
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