SURABAYA, Indonesia — Ten-year-old Made Putri, known as Keisha, was so excited about her first trip abroad, a family vacation to Singapore and Malaysia, that she wore her favorite jacket when she boarded the plane at the airport here.
It was red, with SpongeBob SquarePants printed on the front, a birthday present from her grandparents last year.
Keisha was planning to celebrate her 11th birthday on Jan. 3, during the trip, with her parents and 16-year-old sister, Putriyan Permata.
But their AirAsia flight on Dec. 28 hit stormy weather less than an hour after takeoff from Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province. For reasons that are still not clear, the Airbus A320-200, bound for Singapore, crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people aboard.
“There won’t be a present this year,” said Imam Samporno, Keisha’s grandfather, who viewed security camera footage provided by crash investigators that showed the girl, wearing the red jacket, boarding the airplane with her family.
Since the crash, Mr. Imam and his wife, Maria Endang Wirasmi, both 65, have come each day to a crisis center at the provincial police headquarters here hoping for news of their daughter, Donna Indah Nurwatie; their son-in-law, Boby Winata; and their grandchildren, who lived in a nearby town.
They are among the 92 crash victims whose bodies have not yet been recovered and identified by forensic teams working in Surabaya, and time is running out on the search.
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“She was very creative, and she did so many things,” he said.
Ms. Thejakusuma had planned to celebrate the success of her 14-year-old clothing business, Planet One, and her 45th birthday by treating her family to a cruise around Southeast Asia, sailing out of Singapore.
She was traveling with her husband, Charly Gunawan; their three children; her mother, Ms. Indri; and the boyfriend of their eldest daughter.
Mr. Thejakusuma said Mr. Gunawan, his uncle, had expressed reservations about the whole family’s being on the same plane “in case something happens.”
They went anyway.
Tom McCawley contributed reporting.
