Plane debris found, some bodies retrieved

Surabaya

INDONESIAN search crews recovered debris and bodies floating in the sea from the AirAsia airliner that went missing on Sunday with 162 people on board, as investigators seek to determine what brought down the plane. Among the discovered objects is what appears to be an emergency door as well as submerged items resembling plane parts, FH Bambang Sulistyo, head of the national search and rescue agency, said in Jakarta.

Two female bodies and a male body were retrieved, he said. No mention was made of survivors. Pictures of floating bodies were broadcast on television and relatives of the missing already gathered at a crisis centre in Surabaya wept with heads in their hands. Several people collapsed in grief and were helped away.