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Over 40 bodies recovered from Malaysian passenger jet crash scene in Java Sea

Rescuers continue working at the scene, where the remains of the crashed Airbus A320-200 with 155 on board were spotted

SINGAPORE, December 30. /TASS/. Indonesian rescuers recovered over 40 bodies from the Java Sea, where a Malaysian passenger aircraft was discovered on Tuesday after it went missing over the weekend, a spokesman for the Indonesian Navy said.

Rescuers continue working at the scene, where Indonesian Navy’s Bung Tomo-calss corvette discovered remains of the crashed airliner.

The head of Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, Bambang Soelistyo, earlier confirmed that the discovered debris in the sea belonged to the missing passenger aircraft.

The AirAsia jet was en route from Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, to Singapore. About 40 minutes after the take-off the plane disappeared from the radar screens, presumably staying in the area of Kalimantan Island (Borneo). The Airbus A320-200 was carrying 155 passengers, including seven crewmembers. Most of the passengers were from Indonesia.

It was reported on Monday that the jet was requested at 6:12 a.m. local time to ascend to a higher altitude of 11,500 meters and to turn left to avoid bad weather. Local authorities allowed the plane to only turn left and continue the flight at the altitude of 9,700 meters (32,000 feet) as there was another plane in the vicinity.

Shortly after, the contact was lost near the Borneo Island over the Java Sea.

This is the third air incident this year involving Malaysia, where the low-cost airline in based. The plane’s loss comes after the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March and the crash Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in mid-July in eastern Ukraine.