Less than a quarter of the bodies of the passengers on the Dec 28 flight that plunged into the Java Sea off Kalimantan have been recovered, with bad weather hindering the efforts of a multinational team of planes, ships and personnel. The search continues.
All times listed are Singapore time. Refresh this page for updates.
7.41PM: TNI Commander General Moeldoko has left Pangkalan Bun, our correspondent Jack Board reports.
7.13PM: The director of operations for Indonesia's national search and rescue agency Suryadi B. Supriyadi says search efforts by ships today did not make significant progress. Even though it was cloudy today, waves were as high as 3 metres and divers were not able to head underwater, TODAY reports.
6.30PM: The Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) General Moeldoko said he saw for himself how difficult conditions are at sea, after he toured the QZ8501 search area. Speaking from Pangkalan Bun, he invited families to visit the crash site to scatter flowers and to view the search operations. He said the armed forces will provide the necessary assets to bring the families out there, but it depends on whether they accept the invitation.
General Moeldoko also thanked all countries involved in the search and recovery operation.
5.20PM: An AirAsia flight between Kuala Namu Airport in Medan to Palembang was not allowed to take off today, as Indonesia's Transport Ministry reviews all flight approvals in the country, Metro TV reports. The review was ordered after it was found that AirAsia QZ8501 was flying on Sundays without authorisation, and four Surabaya airport officialshave been removed from their positions for this.
A Kuala Namu airport official said AirAsia's request for extra flights for the Kuala Namu-Palembang route on Tuesdays and Wednesday have not been approved.
4.50PM: China's rescue vessel Yongxingdao set sail from Sanya, Hainan Province, on Monday to assist the search operation for AirAsia flight QZ8501's black box, according to CCTV. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is expected to reach the site where the airplane went missing this Friday, naval authorities said.
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4:20PM: TWO MORE BODIES RECOVERED - Pangkalan Bun command operational director Supriyadi told media that Japan's JS Onami and Malaysia's KD Kasturi each recovered a body from the search site today. These brings the total bodies recovered to 39.
4.05PM: Earlier today, BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelistyo told reporters that divers had taken advantage of a respite in bad weather at the search site to conduct searches. "Some divers have started to dive to the seabed," he said.
4.00PM: A Russian team has detected objects that could be AirAsia debris - described as big, red, orange and white in colour. They also found a "black square" the Jakarta Post quotes a military air base chief as saying.
3.37PM: Police in Surabaya announce that three victims of QZ8501 have been identified. They are Mr Indra Yulianto, based on forensics and CCTV recordings of the 51-year-old's outfit at the airport; Mr Hindarto Halim, 61, and 19-year-old Jou Brian Youvito. This means 16 out of 37 bodies retrieved have been identified.
2.13PM: Commander of the Indonesia Armed Forces General Moeldoko is now on the way to the USS Sampson via a US Seahawk helicopter.
3.37PM: Police in Surabaya announce that three victims of QZ8501 have been identified. They are Mr Indra Yulianto, based on forensics and CCTV recordings of the 51-year-old's outfit at the airport; Mr Hindarto Halim, 61, and 19-year-old Jou Brian Youvito. This means 16 out of 37 bodies retrieved have been identified.
2.13PM: Commander of the Indonesia Armed Forces General Moeldoko is now on the way to the USS Sampson via a US Seahawk helicopter.
2.13PM: Four air traffic control officers from Surabaya's Juanda International airport have been removed from their posts, reports Detik.com. They had failed to check the approved flight schedule for AirAsia Indonesia, according to Mr Wisnu Darjono, Indonesia AirNav's Director for Safety and Standard.
2.00PM: Death certificates have been prepared for some of the victims, reports Sumisha Naidu.
1.59PM: Indonesia Armed Forces Chief has landed in Pangkalan Bun via an Indonesia Armed Forces plane. US Seahawk helicopters are on standby to fly him to the USS Sampson.
12.49PM: Top officials from Indonesia's military and police are expected to reach Pangkalan Bun Tuesday afternoon for a press conference, reports TODAY.
12:42PM: Indonesia's Armed Forces Chief Moeldoko has announced on Twitter that he is headed to Pangkalan Bun to inspect search operations.
12.20PM: The search sector has been expanded another 17 nautical miles eastwards, and the total area is now 22,110 square nautical miles, said Malaysia's Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar. However, the search is still hampered by the weather, with visibility at 3 nautical miles, he added.
11.45AM: The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) on Tuesday (Jan 6) reiterated that it is an airline's responsibility to separately obtain approval of their flight schedules from the respective civil aviation authorities at each end of the flight routing.
"There is no need for coordination between the two authorities in approving the airlines' schedules. This is international practice," said Ms Margaret Tan, Director (Air Transport) at CAAS, in a forum letter sent to and published by TODAY. She was responding to an article by Malay Mail Online carried by TODAY titled "Spotty coordination plaguing air safety: Asia-Pacific aviation chief".
Questions had been raised about the coordination between Indonesia and Singapore's aviation authorities as AirAsia was reportedly not allowed to fly the Surabaya-Singapore-route on Sunday, which is when the crash occurred.
11AM: AirAsia Indonesia reportedly offered 300 million rupiah (S$32,000) in initial compensation for each person on board the ill-fated QZ8501 flight, according to reports by Wall Street Journal and Riau Pos.
AirAsia did not respond to a request to comment on the report, WSJ added.
6.30AM: So far, 13 of the 37 retrieved bodies have been identified, with identification of the remaining 24 made difficult due to the bodies' deteriorated condition following prolonged exposure to the elements.
- CNA/es
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