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Relatives of passengers on AirAsia flight QZ8501 began crying hysterically and fainting as Indonesian television footage showed a body floating in the sea during aerial searches for the plane.
At least two distraught family members were carried out on stretchers from the room where they had been waiting for news in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city - the take-off point for the aircraft that disappeared during a storm on Sunday.
"My heart will be totally crushed if it's true. I will lose a son," 60-year-old Dwijanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said yesterday.
More than 48 hours after the Airbus A320-200 lost contact carrying 162 people to Singapore, aerial searchers spotted items in the Java Sea that officials said were from the plane.
Soon after they began recovering dozens of bodies.
"My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501," airline boss Tony Fernandes tweeted. "On behalf of AirAsia, my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am."
On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The copilot was French.
US law enforcement and security officials said passenger and crew lists were being examined but nothing significant had turned up and the incident was being regarded as an unexplained accident.
As the first body was shown floating in the water on rolling television news, relatives burst into tears and hugged one another amid cries for more ambulances.
One man covered his face and had to be held up by two other men before he fainted and was taken out by stretcher. Another woman was screaming and crying as she was supported by the mayor of Surabaya.
"You have to be strong," the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, said as she comforted relatives. "They are not ours. They belong to God," she said.
A female AirAsia officer shouted at the television media for showing footage of a floating body, while about 200 journalists were barred from the room holding the families, the windows of which were boarded up.
"Is it possible for you not to show a picture of the dead? Please do not show a picture of a dead body," said the officer. "That's crazy."
Munif, a 50-year-old man whose younger brother Siti Rahmah was on the plane, said he had been trying hard to keep the other families calm.
"But the atmosphere was very different after the footage of a dead body was shown. Families became hysterical," he said. "Because everyone was wailing and yelling, I couldn't deal with it so I decided to leave the room."
Ifan Joko, 54, said he was still hoping for a miracle.
His brother, Charlie Gunawan, along with his wife, their three children and two other family members, were travelling to Singapore on the plane to ring in the New Year.
"I know the plane has crashed, but I cannot believe my brother and his family are dead," he said, wiping a tear. "We still pray they are alive."

The recovery efforts will today focus on the reported "shadow" on the seabed believed to be the missing AirAsia jet.
"God blessed us today," Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said during a press conference. "All elements in the areas and search and rescue personnel will be moved to the location. Their job is to find and evacuate all objects or passengers' bodies," he said.
"I will make sure that all of them will be brought to Pangkalan Bun, the closest airstrip from the object's location."
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters


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A person receives medical help. Photo: AFP

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News

Asia

As bodies found  at sea, hope turns to tears as Indonesian families comfort each other while recovery efforts focus on 'shadow' on seabed


Relatives of passengers on AirAsia flight QZ8501 began crying hysterically and fainting as Indonesian television footage showed a body floating in the sea during aerial searches for the plane.


Relatives overcome with grief and anger as bodies found from AirAsia crash

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}As bodies found at sea, hope turns to tears as Indonesian families comfort each other while recovery efforts focus on 'shadow' on seabed

As bodies found at sea, hope turns to tears as Indonesian families comfort each other while recovery efforts focus on 'shadow' on seabed