Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), which is leading the operation to find AirAsia Flight 8501, said on Saturday that it has so far recovered the remains of 30 passengers and crew. The plane crashed in bad weather on Dec. 28 with 162 people on board.
The Disaster Victim Identification Police Department of Republic of Indonesia, which is leading identification efforts, has identified a total of six passengers, AirAsia said in a Facebook post published Saturday, with 24 yet to be identified.
Twelve of those remains -- nine men and three women -- arrived on Saturday at Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia, AirAsia said, where officials with Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea will begin work on identification.
Abdul Aziz Jaafar, head of the Royal Malaysian Navy, tweeted a photo of one of the bodies being recovered on Saturday.
#QZ8501: KD PAHANG is shown transferring the body recovered yesterday, to the sea-boat of KRI BANDA ACHEH. pic.twitter.com/f4HdkwWt2R— Abdul Aziz Jaafar (@ChiefofNavy) January 3, 2015
"Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends of our passengers and colleagues on board QZ 8501," AirAsia said in its Facebook post, as search efforts enter the seventh day in the Java Sea.
Two large objects spotted on the sea floor
BASARNAS also announced on Friday night that it may have found the plane's wreckage 100 feet beneath the surface.
Officials say they've identified two large objects resting on the sea floor that may be debris from the plane. Officials also identified an oil slick near the suspected crash site.
"In addition to the discovery of the bodies, joint SAR team also found several objects of that fateful plane," the agency tweeted on Friday.
Selain penemuan jenasah, tim SAR gabungan juga temukan beberapa objek dari pesawat nahas itu. http://t.co/CI5blGu5a7 pic.twitter.com/NgXB39erVt— Badan SAR Nasional (@SAR_NASIONAL) January 2, 2015
"With the discovery of an oil spill and two big parts of the aircraft, I can assure you these are the parts of the AirAsia plane we have been looking for," BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelistyo told reporters on Saturday.
One of the objects is approximately 30 feet long and 15 feet wide, while the second is about 22 feet long.
The agency will attempt to send a remotely operated vehicle 100 feet beneath the waves to try and photograph the objects once the weather improves on Sunday. Approximately 30 to 40 divers are also on standby to confirm that the objects are pieces of the missing plane.
A discovery of Flight 8501's wreckage would likely lead to recovery of its black box, giving investigators a clearer picture of what may have happened in the plane's final moments.