Two divers from the Pelopor team were scrambled to the area where the object number three, the largest object, was found.
"Two divers were deployed. However, the visibility on the seabed was zero. And it was muddy, with seabed current velocity reaching three to five knots," Soelistyo said in a press conference here Sunday.
Therefore, the divers team had to halt their rescue operation. An ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle), then, was deployed for the rescue operation.
Bad weather and heavy downpour hampered the team effort in the afternoon despite a clear weather in the morning.
Soelistyo said the rescue team on Sunday morning at 03:00 am local time had found the fifth object with a diameter of 9.8 x 1.1 x 0.4 meter at the location where the previous objects, believed to be the body of the missing aircraft, were found.
Until Sunday, at least 31 bodies of AirAsia crash victims have been recovered and evacuated.
Thirty bodies have been evacuated to Surabaya, and one was still on board ship and will be transported to Pangkalan Bun first, Soelistyo said.
Nine ships were scrambled to several prioritized areas where divers will look for fuselage.
The AirAsias Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people has gone missing since Sunday morning (Dec. 28) after losing contact with air traffic control on its way from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore.
The Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 lost contact after the pilot requested to ascend to 38 thousand feet from 32 thousand feet to avoid bad weather over the sea area between Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan.
The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members. It took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 5:36 a.m. local time and lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. local time.
The plane, piloted by Captain Iriyanto and First Officer (FO) Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Seven foreigners are among the passengers of the missing jet. The foreign nationals comprise three Koreans, a Singaporean, a British, a Malaysian, and a First Officer (FO) from France.
(A059/S012)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
