SURABAYA, Indonesia — Heavy wind and rain hampered the search for the crashed AirAsia flight Thursday, preventing helicopters and divers getting to a dark shadow on the seabed that officials say could be the wreckage of the aircraft. The bad weather on the fifth day of the search came as the first body recovered among debris in the Java Sea was identified as passenger Hayati Lutfiah Hamid, according to The Associated Press. Her identity was confirmed by fingerprints and other tests, and she was returned to her family and buried, Col. Budiyono of East Java's Disaster Victim Identification Unit told the AP.
Fransiskus Bambang Soelstyo, the head of the Indonesian National Search and Rescue, confirmed to NBC News that nine bodies have been recovered from Flight QZ8501, which crashed into the sea during its flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday. More than 150 people remain missing.
The search has come amid Indonesia's rainy season and officials have not been able to examine an object detected by sonar that is lying 100-165 feet below the surface off Borno island. "It's possible the bodies are in the fuselage," Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun, told the AP.
Frogman commander Lt. Edi Tirkayasa told Reuters that the search was "very difficult even with sophisticated equipment." He added: "With weather like this, who knows? We are still hopeful and optimistic that they'll find it. They must."
IN-DEPTH
— Katy Tur, Amalia Ahmad and Alexander Smith
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
