The search area for the crashed AirAsia plane in the Java Sea was narrowed to about 160 sq.km where the jet’s last signals were detected.

This was the third time the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) had narrowed the search area, Basarnas Chief Bambang Soelistyo said, adding that strong undercurrents might drift passenger bodies and plane debris.

In the morning of January 6, divers searched for the plane wreckage, black box, and passenger bodies at some 20-30 metres under water thanks to favourable weather. Thirty-seven bodies were recovered so far.

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lost contact with an air traffic control station in the morning of December 28, only 42 minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s Surabaya airport for Singapore. It carried 162 passengers and crew members, including 155 Indonesians, three Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one French, and one British.