National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo tells a press conference that six bodies have now been recovered, including a woman in crew uniform. "As soon as the weather is clear, the bodies will be brought to Pangkalan Bun," the town with the nearest airstrip to the crash site, added Soelistyo.
Also Read: Bad weather halts recovery of bodies from AirAsia flight
"We are experiencing bad weather now. Rains and winds prevented us from resuming the search operation this morning," Air Force rescue coordinator SB Supriyadi told a news agency. Supriyadi added that hundreds of people from the military, police and national rescue agency were on standby waiting for clear weather in Pangkalan Bun.
Stormy weather on Wednesday forced Indonesian rescuers to suspend their search for the bodies of those on AirAsia`s Flight QZ8501, which plunged into the water at the weekend carrying 162 people.
More than 48 hours after the Airbus A320-200 disappeared en route from Indonesia`s second largest city Surabaya to Singapore, aerial searchers found wreckage and bodies floating in the Java Sea on Tuesday.
About 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States have been involved in the search.
"The challenge is waves up to three metres high," National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told reporters, adding that the search operation would go on all night. He declined to answer questions on whether any survivors had been found.
A Navy spokesman said a plane door, oxygen tanks and one body had been recovered and taken away by helicopter for tests.
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.
The airline said in a statement that it was inviting family members to Surabaya, "where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met".
"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."
The Navy initially said 40 bodies had been recovered, although other media later quoted the head of the search and rescue agency, Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, as saying only three bodies had been retrieved. The plane has yet to be found.
On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.
Indonesian rescuers searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo on Tuesday, prompting relatives of those on board watching TV footage to break down in tears.
Pilots and aviation experts said thunderstorms, and requests to gain altitude to avoid them, were not unusual in that area.
It was travelling at 32,000 feet (9,753 metres) and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet, officials said earlier.
The plane, which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic, officials said.
Indonesia AirAsia`s Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
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