SINGAPORE, January 19. /TASS/. Rescuers resumed on Monday an operation to recover the fuselage of the crashed AirAsia passenger plane from the seabed of the Java Sea.
The operation to recover the largest chunk of the crashed aircraft began last week, but was obstructed by poor weather conditions in the region.
Rescuers believe that most of the bodies will be found in the fuselage of the plane. As of now, only 51 bodies out of total 162 people on board of the passenger jet were found.
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AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared from radar screens on December 28 about 40 minutes after its departure from Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya to Singapore and crashed in the area off Kalimantan (Borneo) Island.
The jet was carrying 155 passengers and seven crewmembers, nationals from six countries (155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Briton, one Malaysian, one Singaporean and a Frenchman).
Rescuers have found the black boxes, but specialists decline to name the reasons for the crash as flight data is still being decoded.
The crew asked ground control for a permission to ascend in order to avoid a thunder storm but then the contact with the plane was lost.
AirAsia is the largest low-cost carrier in Asia, with over 850 destinations in Southeast Asia, Australia, Great Britain, France and Japan.