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AirAsia Crash: Bad Weather Hampers Hunt for Plane Wreckage

Divers were grappling with light rain and rolling waves Sunday as they tried to reach what is believed to be the fuselage of AirAsia Flight 8501.
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SURABAYA, Indonesia — Bad weather hindered divers searching for the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 on Sunday, but officials in Indonesia expressed confidence they would soon zero in on the missing jet's black boxes.

Search crews have identified five large objects believe to be from the doomed flight. Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters Sunday that divers sent to probe the depths of the sea had to turn back due to bad visibility.

"They could not see anything but darkness," he said, adding that so far 34 bodies have been recovered in total. Soelistyo said that five ships are in the area where debris has already been found and that he hopes the plane's black boxes will be found on Monday.

As Indonesian officials worked to process the remains — a further three victims were identified on Sunday — hopes ran high that the black boxes would yield clues as to what downed the plane. A preliminary report from Indonesia's meteorological office said weather was believed to be the cause of the crash.

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— Katy Tur, Sossy Dombourian and Amalia Ahmed