AirAsia crash victim is buried

A passenger aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 has become the first victim of the crash to be returned to her family, one of many painful reunions to come, as searchers struggled against wind and heavy rain to find more than 150 people still missing.

Hayati Lutfiah Hamid’s identity was confirmed by fingerprints and other means, said Colonel Budiyono of East Java’s disaster victim identification unit.

Her body, in a dark polished coffin topped with flowers, was handed over to her family at a brief ceremony at a police hospital in Surabaya, the Indonesian city where the plane had taken off. A family member cried as she put both hands on the coffin.

After a Muslim cleric said a prayer for the deceased, the coffin was taken straight to a village and lowered into a muddy grave, following Muslim obligations requiring bodies to be buried quickly.

An imam said a simple prayer as about 150 people gathered in the drizzling rain, and red flowers were sprinkled over the mound of wet dirt with a small white tombstone.

Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea on Sunday with 162 people aboard. Nine bodies have been recovered, including two brought to Pangkalan Bun yesterday, the nearest town to where the wreckage was spotted on Tuesday.

In the thick of Indonesia’s rainy season, the weather has frequently prevented helicopters and divers from operating while strong sea currents have kept debris moving. Singapore’s navy sent in an unmanned underwater vehicle capable of surveying the seabed to try to help pinpoint the wreckage and the all-important “black boxes”.

Indonesian equipment in the search includes a minesweeper, a private survey ship that specialises in sea mapping, and a vessel that can conduct 3D imaging and detect pings from the black boxes. Aircraft capable of detecting metal also were deployed.

We are “focusing on finding the body of the plane”, said Indonesia air force spokesman Rear Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto.

“There was something like a dark shadow once seen from a plane, but it cannot yet be proven as wreckage.”

The bodies were recovered from an area off Borneo island. Remains are being sent initially to Pangkalan Bun, the closest town, before being transported to Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, where Flight 8501 had taken off.

Choppy conditions had prevented divers from entering the water yesterday, and helicopters were largely grounded, but 18 ships continued to survey the narrowed search area. Sonar images have identified what appeared to be large parts of the plane.

“It’s possible the bodies are in the fuselage,” said vice-air marshal Sunarbowo Sandi. “So it’s a race now against time and weather.”

The longer the search takes, the more bodies will decompose and debris will scatter. Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas said there is a good chance the plane hit the water largely intact, and that many passengers remain inside it.