flight QZ8501: AirAsia confirms debris and bodies found are from missing plane

 THREE days after disappearing during a wild storm, Air Asia has confirmed debris found earlier today is that of missing flight QZ8501.

In a statement, the airline read it “regretsto inform that The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, the flight that had lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28th December 2014.”

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:

- Indonesia air traffic control (ATC) lost contact with AirAsia flight QZ8501 bound for Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia and carrying 162 people on board went missing on Sunday morning, around an hour after it left Juanda International Airport at 5:35am Indonesia time.

- Indonesian rescue personnel are descending into the water to retrieve bodies and debris found in the area, about 10km away from where the plane was last seen on the radar. The navy has said via AFP that it has picked up more than 40 bodies from the area so far.
- Indonesia's search and rescue chief says he is "95 per cent sure" that the debris found so far belong to the missing aircraft. Next-of-kin of the passengers and crew have also been informed to this effect.
- The plane was over the Java Sea between Belitung island and Pontianak, on Indonesia's part of Kalimantan island, tracked four minutes after its pilot, Captain Iriyanto, stopped responding to ATC. Iriyanto had requested at 6:12am Indonesia time to veer left (this was approved) and ascend to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet. After Indonesia's ATC informed the pilot at 6:14am Indonesia time of a revised height of 34,000 feet (because flight QZ8502 was cruising at 38,000 feet altitude), there was no response. The plane was then officially declared missing at 7:55am Indonesia time.

LATEST UPDATES:
Tuesday, 30 December
7:29pm: AirAsia Indonesia has confirmed in a statement just released that the debris and bodies found earlier today is from the missing flight QZ8501.
7:04pm: Indonesian portal Detik.com reports that the bodies that are found in the search area off Pangkalan Bun will be sent to Surabaya for identification, citing police brigadier-general Arthur Tampi, chief of the Indonesian police medical center.
He said Surabaya has the necessary equipment to store the bodies, an "adequate number of personnel" and is where majority of the victims' families are at. The next-of-kin of the passengers and crew on the missing plane will in turn be able to assist in identification, he added.
Separately, a Channel NewsAsia reporter in Surabaya said several disaster victim identification officers are waiting there to receive the bodies that have so far been recovered by the Indonesian Navy.
6:12pm: Singapore defence minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post that Singapore's ships deployed in the search area have been directed to the area where bodies and debris were found. The MV Swift Rescue, a submarine support and rescue vessel, will set sail this evening to join the ongoing rescue and retrieval operation, he added.
"The SAF will do all it can to assist Indonesia in this very difficult time. We offer our deepest sympathies to families of the passengers and crew," he said.

6:03pm: Relatives of the passengers and crew on the missing plane were seen breaking down at the news of the debris and bodies being found near where QZ8501 was last seen on the radar.

Some fainted and were stretchered out of the holding room as well:
Government security officials carry a family member of passengers onboard AirAsia flight QZ8501 after she collapsed … The hand of family member of passengers onboard AirAsia flight QZ8501 is pictured at a waiting area in Juanda International …
A relative of passengers of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 weeps as she prays at the crisis center at Juanda