Bad weather stalls AirAsia search

Despite bad weather, ships and planes have resumed their search for the remains of AirAsia Flight 8501 which crashed off the coast of Indonesia on Sunday.

"We are experiencing bad weather now. Rains and winds prevented us from resuming the search operation this morning," National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi told AFP early Wednesday.

A total of six bodies have been recovered so far.

"This morning we found three more bodies, two males and one female," said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency chief. He added that the female was dressed in a flight attendant's outfit.

Soelistyo said the bodies would be taken to the nearest town, Pangkalan Bun, before being flown to Surabaya for identification.

The AirAsia flight lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday while flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore. Shortly before losing contact with controllers, pilots had requested a change of course which could not be immediately granted. The plane disappeared from radar a few minutes later, without issuing a distress call.

About 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States are looking for the missing plane. The search is being coordinated by Indonesia.

Recovery teams spotted aircraft remains about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off Pangkalan Bun in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province on Tuesday after an extensive search in the Java Sea.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo met the relatives of the passengers on Tuesday in Surabaya, where a crisis center has been set up. Widodo said that AirAsia would pay an immediate advance of money to relatives of victims in the tragedy.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes has described the disaster as his "worst nightmare."

"This is a scar with me for the rest of my life," he told reporters.

mg/cmk (Reuters, AFP, dpa)