Miili ya waliokufa ajali ya ndege yapatikana

Indonesian military personnel carry the coffin of a victim recovered from the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501, upon arrival at the military airbase in Surabaya, East Java, yesterday. 

The first two bodies from the AirAsia plane that crashed off the coast of Borneo arrived yesterday in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, where relatives have gathered to await news of their loved ones.

Rescuers believe they have found the plane on the sea floor off Borneo, after sonar detected a large, dark object beneath waters near where debris and bodies were found on the surface.

Ships and planes had been scouring the Java Sea for Flight QZ8501 since Sunday, when it lost contact during bad weather about 40 minutes into its flight from Surabaya to Singapore.

Seven bodies have been recovered from the sea, some fully clothed, which could indicate the Airbus A320-200 was intact when it hit the water. That would support a theory that it suffered an aerodynamic stall.

Tatang Zaenudin, an official with Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said earlier that one of the bodies found had been wearing a life jacket.

But he later said no victim had been recovered with a life jacket on. “We found a body at 8.20am and a life jacket at 10.32am so there was a time difference. This is the latest information.”

Two bodies, in coffins bedecked with flowers and marked 001 and 002, arrived by an air force plane in Surabaya.

Most of the 162 people on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found.