AirAsia Flight QZ8501: Search operation to recover dead bodies may end by next week

The Indonesian search team chief has reportedly said that the search operation for victims of crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501 could be ended by the end of next week if no more bodies are found.

Bambang Soelistyo, the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), said on Wednesday that the team would take another seven days to ascertain if the operation should be extended or shut down. He added that the operation may be extended if one or two more bodies are found, reported the BBC.

Soelistyo said that the victims' families had been informed about the possible deadline and understand the situation.

The statement comes a day after the military said that it was suspending operations to raise the plane's fuselage from the seabed as they believe no bodies are trapped inside it.

The plane was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore on 28 December carrying 162 people when it went down into the Java Sea.

More than 90 people are still missing.