Strong undercurrents are hindering divers to search for sunken wreckage from an AirAsia passenger jet which crashed into the Java Sea on December 28, 2014 while en route from Indonesia to Singapore.

Bambang Soelistyo, Chief of the Indonesia National Search and Rescue Agency, told a press conference in Jakarta on January 5 that as many as 37 bodies and five pieces of wreckage of the plane QZ8501 have been found to date.

Indonesia will continue their search and rescue efforts until the operation is completed, affirmed Micheal Wattimena from the agency.

He also thanked Singapore , Malaysia , Japan , the Republic of Korea and the US for their support for the search, adding that a rescue ship from China is on the way to the Java Sea to join the operation.

The same day, Indonesia 's Army Chief General Moeldoko suggested the setting up of a website providing necessary information about the flight, the crash and the search operation as well as interests of the victims’ relatives.

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