‘Miscommunication’ in bodies retrieved at AirAsia hunt

Agence France-Presse

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‘Miscommunication’ in bodies retrieved at AirAsia hunt
(UPDATED) 'Based on the navy radio, it has been reported that the warship Bung Tomo has retrieved 40 bodies and the number is growing. They are very busy now,' says Indonesia's navy spokesman who would later correct the figure

JAKARTA, Indonesia (UPDATED) – An Indonesian navy spokesman said on Tuesday, December 30, that 40 bodies have been recovered by a warship from the sea, in the search for the missing AirAsia jet, but the number was later cut down to only 3 by the chief of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.

“Based on the navy radio, it has been reported that the warship Bung Tomo has retrieved 40 bodies and the number is growing. They are very busy now,” Manahan Simorangkir initially told Agence France-Presse.

Shortly after he made the statement, however, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency chief said only 3 bodies had been recovered so far in the search for the AirAsia plane which crashed in the Java Sea.

“Today we evacuated 3 bodies and they are now in the warship Bung Tomo,” Bambang Soelistyo told a news conference in Jakarta, adding that they were two females and one male.

The navy spokesman later clarified that 40 body count was due to a miscommunication with his staff. 

AirAsia chief expresses condolences, apologies

AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes on Tuesday expressed his grief to the relatives of the 162 passengers and crew who were on board Flight QZ8501 after wreckage and bodies were spotted at sea. 

“My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am,” he wrote on Twitter.

Speaking in Indonesia’s second-biggest city of Surabaya after meeting with distraught relatives of some of the 162 passengers, Fernandes said he “apologised profusely” for the accident. 

“The passengers were on my aircraft and I have to take responsibility for that,” he said, adding that he was focusing on supporting the families.

Fernandes said he was experiencing an airline chief executive’s “worst nightmare.” 

An earlier statement from his company said employees of affiliate AirAsia Indonesia, which operated the crashed plane, had been sent to the site where debris was found and would fully cooperate in the investigation.

“There is at least some closure as opposed to not knowing what’s happened and holding out hope,” Fernandes told reporters.

He said the pilot of the ill-fated plane was “extremely experienced” with 20,000 hours of flying.

“There were some very unique weather conditions and let’s wait for the investigation to be concluded.”

Out of the 162 passengers and crew on board, 155 were Indonesian.  Rappler.com

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