Headlines
Indonesia calls off AirAsia recovery operations
Jakarta, Jan 27
An Indonesian navy official
said Tuesday that a multinational operation to search for the bodies of
victims aboard crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501 and retrieve wreckage of
the ill-fated plane has been called off, mediA reported.
The
announcement was made by Navy Western Fleet Commander Rear Admiral
Widodo on board navy ship Banda Aceh 31 days after the operation was
launched in the Java Sea off the Central Kalimantan province, Xinhua
news agency reported citing TVOne.
Widodo said the operation
effectively ended Tuesday as no more bodies were found in the wreckage
of the aircraft. Search for bodies of passengers and crew members has
been the focus of the operation after two black boxes and the tail
section of the Airbus A320-200 were retrieved earlier this month.
"The
military commander has ordered us to return to our respective bases for
further consolidation while waiting for further situation development,"
he was quoted by TVOne as saying.
The report said all military vessels involved in the operation were told to return to their bases.
The
search operation started Dec 28 when the Singapore-bound plane crashed
into the sea in bad weather 40 minutes after its take-off from
Indonesia's city of Surabaya in East Java.
As of now, 70 bodies
of a total of 162 people on board the ill-fated flight have been
recovered by teams from Indonesia, Australia, the US, Russia, China,
Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. Some 55 bodies have been
identified.
Suryadi B. Supriyadi, commander of the search
operation, said at an operation base in Pangkalan Bun that the operation
was extended from the standard search period of seven days stipulated
in Indonesia's law.