REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALANGKA RAYA -- US ship USS Sampson has found the bodies of 12 victims of crashed Air Asia flight QZ8501 on Friday taking the total number of bodies recovered so far to 22.
"Helicopter Seahawk of the US Navy has delivered the bodies of eight Air Asia victims since afternoon while four bodies are still kept in Sampson," the operations director of the National Search and Rescue Agency, SB Supriyadi, said at the Main Command Center in Iskandar Naval Base, Pangkalan Bun, here on Friday (2/1).
According to Central Kalimantan police command chief Brigadier General Bambang Hermanu, six of the 10 bodies that have been evacuated to Sultan Imanudin hospital in Pangkalan Bun have been identified.
They consist of two male adults, three female adults, and one male child. Process for identifying the remaining four bodies is ongoing.
"The ten bodies are scheduled to be sent to Surabaya today itself," he added.
The plane carrying 162 passengers, including seven crew members, was flying from Surabaya in East Java to Singapore when it lost contact with the air traffic control above the Java Sea.