Indonesia ends AirAsia search operation: official

A senior Indonesian official said on Saturday that the search operation for bodies and wreckage of the AirAsia QZ 8501 has come to an end, as evacuation of the crashed plane's mangled wreckage was underway at the moment on Saturday, expecting to arrive in Jakarta on Sunday.

Speaking on the sidelines to commemorate the 43 anniversary of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue agency (Basarnas), chief of the agency F. Henry Bambang Soelistyo said the search team has engaged maximum efforts to search for more bodies from the ill- fated flight during the operation.

"We found no more bodies in search areas over the last two weeks," Bambang told reporters.

Bambang said efforts to lift up and evacuate the mangled wreckage of the Airbus A320-200 jet from the seabed of the Karimata Strait started three days ago.

Bambang said the meeting with representatives of the ill-fated plane's passengers is planned as part of the closure of the operation.

The Basarnas carried out the operation since late last month after the military pulled out from the activities in Jan. 27.

Besides Indonesia, the operation was joined by several countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Russia, the United States, China, Japan and South Korea.

Air Asia QZ 8501 was crashed in Karimata Strait enroute from Indonesia's city of Surabaya for Singapore on Dec. 28, killing all 162 people onboard.

The search team has retrieved 103 bodies of passengers and crews with some of the bodies were found in waters about 1,000 km away from the crash site. Endi