The search for more bodies and plane wreckage continues on Friday (Jan 2), as recovery crews race against time amid adverse weather conditions.
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All times listed are Singapore time. Refresh this page for updates.
12.20PM: Weather conditions are hampering the search for the wreckage, reports Lam Shushan from onboard the RSS Persistence.
11.49AM: Search and rescue officials have taken out the debris from earlier on Friday for re-inspection. They say they are close to finding the wreckage, reports Devianti Faridz.
11.43AM: The two bodies that arrived this morning have been described: 009 is a male adult about 164cm wearing a short sleeve red T-shirt with the words "vintage radio" written on it, while coffin 010 is a female of about 155cm with a ring on her middle finger, wearing blue trousers and a sleeveless white blouse.
11.36AM: The search team preparing to head out to sea at Kumai Habour, Pangkala Bun. Another vessel has returned to dock to allow its crew to attend Friday prayers, and will return to the search later.
10.40AM: Debris found "is a part from the inside of a plane - there is a handle that can be moved", says LTC Jhonson Henrico Simatupang, Commander of the Iskandar Airbase in Pangkalan Bun.
10.29AM: Forensics say they are having trouble identifying one of the victims because fingerprints are inconclusive, as the body had been exposed to sea water for too long, reports John Leong.
10.21AM: A total of 29 ships and 17 planes are involved in the search for the black box and wreckage on Friday, says BASARNAS. Morning weather and sea conditions are relatively good this morning, with waves between 2.5 and 3 metres - considered relatively safe.
10.16AM: Sixteen bodies have been found, and 10 bodies have been evacuated, says search agency BASARNAS. Eight of the bodies are already in Surabaya, and two of them are in Pangkalan Bun. More bodies are expected today, says BASARNAS.
10.06AM: AirAsia staff say that families who have lost multiple loved ones on the flight want to try and bury them together, reports Sumisha Naidu.
10.00AM: More debris from the search site has been seen arriving at Pangkalan Bun via helicopter.
9.27AM: Some of the families of passengers on QZ8501 have been asked to leave their hotels due to a "miscommunication", reports Sumisha Naidu. The hotels involved did not inform staff that they had bookings after a certain date and checked them out.
Families and AirAsia staff taking care of the families were upset at the Surabaya hotel, feeling they had been inconsiderate to the next-of-kin. The affected families have been moved to a new hotel since Thursday night.
9.12AM: The USS Sampson - said to have been searching the area where AirAsia QZ8501 lost contact - has reportedly found six bodies, and is expected to dock at Pangkalan Bun at 11am. A Malaysian navy ship is also said to have found one body, which will be transferred to an Indonesian navy ship before being flown back to Pangkalan Bun.
9.04AM: Officials are seen inspecting debris recovered from the QZ8501 search site, ahead of a press conference near Iskandar Airport.
8.12AM: The search sector has moved 30 nautical miles east, says Malaysia Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar. "This is the most likely area of the missing plane," he added.
7.40AM: A specialist black box search team from France will arrive at search zone early on Friday.
"During the morning of January 2nd, local time, a ship will be taking the investigators to the search area, with detection equipment including hydrophones, in order to try to locate the acoustic beacons from the two flight recorders," said France's BEA crash investigation agency.
6.31AM: Nine bodies have been recovered so far, said BASARNAS head Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo on Thursday (Jan 1). Singapore's RSS Kallang is set to reach the search site on Friday.
Click here to read updates on the search for QZ8501 from the previous day.
- CNA/av