At least four more bodies were recovered on Sunday, bringing the count to 34. The remains were transferred by helicopter to the processing center in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, to the north of the search area.
The developments came as Indonesian officials announced that they had identified three more bodies — two female passengers and a male flight attendant.
Additional wreckage was spotted overnight, measuring almost 10 meters (33 feet) by 1 meter.
Sunday’s progress was not as great as searchers had hoped. It was forecast to be the best day weather-wise for the search, but choppy seas once again hindered the operation.
Initial compensation offered
As many endured the agonizing wait for news of their loved ones, CNN obtained details of initial compensation packages from AirAsia to the families of the victims.
Several family members told CNN on Sunday that families of those on board the plane were presented with a draft letter from AirAsia outlining details of preliminary compensation.
The letter states that families are entitled to about $24,000 for each family member who was on the plane.
While some families signed the letter, others requested revisions to the wording.
This compensation money is for any “financial hardships” during this period of the search, and in the letters AirAsia stressed that it was not a confirmation that their family members were deceased.
Search continues
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The plane and the pilots
What we know: The Airbus, operated by AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours in about 13,600 flights in six years. The plane’s last scheduled maintenance was November 16.
Flight 8501’s veteran captain, Iriyanto, 53, had 20,537 flying hours, 6,100 of them with AirAsia on the Airbus A320, the airline said. The first officer, Remi Emmanuel Plesel, 46, had 2,275 flying hours, a reasonable amount for his position.
Indonesian authorities are looking into why AirAsia was flying that particular route on that particular day, a Sunday; the country’s Transport Ministry says that AirAsia was permitted to fly it only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. AirAsia said it will cooperate with the inquiry and suspended all service from Surabaya to Singapore in the meantime.
What we don’t know: Did technical problems or human error have anything to do with the crash? A major aviation database registers 54 incidents involving the A320.
Some A320 accidents and incidents involve fan-cowl detachments, landing gear collapse, bird strikes and pilot error, an expert said. These cause disasters only in very rare cases.
Security threat?
Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta issued a security alert Saturday after being “made aware of a potential threat against U.S.-associated hotels and banks in Surabaya.” A State Department official, however, told CNN that there was “no knowledge of any connection between this threat and the AirAsia flight.”
No additional information was given regarding the nature of the threat, but the embassy recommended “heightened vigilance and awareness of one’s surroundings when visiting such facilities.”
CNN’s Paula Hancocks, Elizabeth Joseph, Mitra Mobasherat, Gary Tuchman, Kevin Bohn and Joseph Netto contributed to this report. Journalist Yosef Riadi and translators Michelle Anugrah, Azieza Uhnavy and Edi Pangerapan also contributed.
