Somber New Year's as bad weather hampers AirAsia search

SURABAYA, Indonesia — As wind and rain hamper recovery operations of AirAsia Flight 8501, this city started a somber new year by canceling holiday celebrations as hundreds of people turned out for a candlelight vigil.

The search for 162 people who vanished Sunday aboard the Airbus A320 was severely limited Wednesday by heavy rain, wind and thick clouds over the Java Sea, forecast to last through Friday. Choppy conditions prevented divers from entering the water and helicopters were largely grounded.

Sonar images identified what appeared to be large parts of the plane, but strong currents were moving the debris.

"It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from yesterday's location," said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the targeted area. "We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches."

The first two bodies of the seven already recovered arrived Wednesday at a military airstrip at Surabaya's airport. They were in simple wooden coffins — numbered 001 and 002 — with purple flowers on top. The two victims were a woman wearing blue jeans and a boy. The other five bodies — three male and two female — will remain on a warship until the weather clears.

Several churches around Surabaya held memorial services on New Year's Eve. One church — Manwar Sharon Church — lost 41 members in the crash.

On Wednesday, about 100 relatives gathered for a prayer service in a hall at the airport, where the Rev. Philip Mantofa urged the crowd to hold onto their faith despite their pain.

"Some things do not make sense to us, but God is bigger than all this," he said. "Our God is not evil … help us God to move forward even though we are surrounded by darkness."

Florida Rambu Bangi Roni was preparing for an evening service at Gereja Kristen Indonesia Ngagel church, a Presbyterian congregation of around 2,000. Three members of her church — two adults and their child — were on the flight. The pastor said the church was changing its planned New Year's Eve service into a memorial for the passengers.

"The tragedy of AirAsia is a reminder," she said. "We don't know what time we will die. So we should care for others, make them happy. It's important."

At a nearby evangelical megachurch, Andrew Rizal, a doctor, said he was thinking of the passengers and their families. "It's really sad," Rizal said. "There are so many families that can't have New Year with their loved ones tonight."

For grieving relatives at the airport's crisis center, large flower wreaths were placed nearby as the wait continues for word about their loved ones and answers about what caused the crash.

William Kai — whose brother-in-law David Gunawan and his wife and two children, ages 7 and 10, were on the flight — said his family was leaning on each other and their faith in God for strength.

"We are devastated for sure," he said. "We're humans. We're never ready for this kind of stuff. We just have to stay strong for each other."

He said they were still holding on to a sliver of hope for survivors. "Thinking logically, the chances are very, very low," he said. "Right now, we live by faith, not by sight. We believe in God."

Recovering bodies was expected to remain difficult for the near future. Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency predicted that the conditions would worsen, with more intense rains through Friday.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said Wednesday: "The search-and-rescue operations were unfortunately hampered by bad weather today, but I am hopeful they will be able to resume the search tomorrow."

Airport management company Angkasa Pura I officially handed over responsibility for the crisis center to AirAsia on Wednesday evening. The center will be relocated Thursday morning to Bhayangkara Hospital.

The Airbus A320, which took off from Surabaya for Singapore, lost contact with air traffic control Sunday morning. Pilots had asked permission to climb to avoid storm clouds, but six other aircraft were in the vicinity, so controllers denied the request. Minutes later, the jet vanished from radar screens without declaring an emergency.

Contributing: The Associated Press; Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY in London.