Fair weather helps evacuation efforts for QZ8501 crash bodies

PANGKALAN BUN, INDONESIA — Evacuation efforts for the AirAsia crash have sped up at Pangkalan Bun today (Jan 3), helped by fair weather as well as United States navy helicopters which flew seven bodies into the Central Kalimantan city this morning.

The bodies were swiftly treated at Pangkalan Bun’s hospital, sent back to the the city’s airport in less than two hours, and loaded with five other bodies onto an Indonesian military aircraft which left for Surabaya at around noon.

As of 2pm, a total of 30 bodies have been recovered and flown to Surabaya for identification.

Flight QZ8501 was on its way from Surabaya to Singapore last Sunday when it perished into the Java Sea. Most of the 162 people on board were Indonesians.

The speedy evacuation this morning was in contrast to the two days following the discovery of the first seven bodies earlier this week on Tuesday. Indonesian ships and helicopters battled rains and strong winds to bring the bodies back in batches to Pangkalan Bun.

Health officials told reporters that the bodies evacuated today were already severely decomposed and no identification was done except for checking the gender and height.

Operation plans at Pangkalan Bun’s operations centre today reveal that 60 ships are now taking part in the search. It includes both foreign and Indonesian navies, as well as the Indonesian marine police.

Navy ships started searching three sectors approximately 45 by 105 nautical miles each, this morning. A fourth and smaller sector to the southeast of Pangkalan Bun is being searched by two Indonesian ships.

They will be accompanied by 11 helicopters and 8 aircraft from various nations.

Five vessels are also taking part in an underwater search area measuring 57 by 10 nautical miles.