Divers evacuate more bodies as they near AirAsia fuselage

JAKARTA, Indonesia (UPDATED) – Divers evacuated several more bodies on Thursday, January 22, as they neared the fuselage of the crashed AirAsia jet, more than a week after it was located. 

“There are several bodies inside the fuselage,” Rear Admiral Widodo told reporters aboard the KRI Banda Aceh ship in the waters of Karimata, Central Kalimantan, according to Detik.com.

AFP reported that Indonesian divers found 5 bodies still belted into their seats near the fuselage.

“Our divers found five bodies buried in mud, close to the plane fuselage. They were still belted to their seats,” S.B. Supriyadi, a rescue agency official coordinating the search, told AFP.

“We believe they spilled out of the fuselage, which is 50 to 100 metres (160 to 330 feet) away,” he said. 

Local media reported the bodies still had cash and identification cards on them. 

Flight QZ8501 went down on December 28 in stormy weather during what was supposed to be a short trip from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, with 162 people on board.

After a lengthy search, a Singapore military vessel spotted the fuselage – the main trunk of the plane – at the bottom of the Java Sea on January 14. But bad weather and rough seas have hampered efforts to reach it. (READ: Main body of crashed AirAsia jet located)

As of Wednesday, only 53 had been found, with most of the bodies believed still trapped inside the fuselage.

Black box clues

Officials and investigators have begun releasing information gleaned from the black boxes about the final moments of the fatal flight. 

Indonesian Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan said earlier this week the plane had climbed abnormally fast before stalling and plunging into the sea.

“In the final minutes, the plane climbed at a speed which was beyond normal,” Jonan said. “The plane suddenly went up at a speed above the normal limit that it was able to climb to. Then it stalled.”

According to him, radar data showed the Airbus A320-200 appeared at one point to be climbing at a rate of 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) a minute before the crash. 

“I think it is rare even for a fighter jet to be able to climb 6,000 feet per minute,” he said. “For a commercial flight, climbing around 1,000 to 2,000 (feet) is maybe already considered extraordinary, because it is not meant to climb that fast.” (READ: AirAsia plane climbed at speed ‘beyond normal’ then stalled)

An investigator from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) also told Agence France-Presse that warning alarms, including one that indicated the plane was stalling, were heard “screaming” as the pilots desperately tried to stabilize the plane just before it plunged into the Java Sea.

“The warning alarms, we can say, were screaming, while in the background they (the pilot and co-pilot) were busy trying to recover,” the investigator said, adding the warnings were going off “for some time”. (READ: AirAsia jet’s alarms ‘screaming’ before crash: investigator) 

Before take-off, the plane’s pilot had asked for permission to fly at a higher altitude to avoid a major storm but the request was not approved due to other planes above him on the popular route.

In his last communication, the experienced pilot said he wanted to change course to avoid the storm. Then all contact was lost, about 40 minutes after take-off. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com

An earlier version of this story stated that divers had reached the fuselage. We have corrected it to say that the divers have found bodies near the fuselage.