AirAsia recovery suspended after three days of attempts

AirAsia QZ8501 fuselage recovery operation has been suspended, the Indonesian military has said.

The plane crashed into the Java Sea in December 2014.

Search teams failed to retrieve the fuselage after three days of attempts using a lifting bag.

Officials initially thought bodies were inside, but now say recovering the wreckage is not a priority as they believe no victims remain.

So far only 70 bodies of the 162 people who were on board have been found.

The recovery operation has been hampered by stormy weather.

It comes after a previous attempt to raise the plane on January 24 failed when the fuselage began to break into pieces.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore when it plummeted into the sea on 28 December.

A preliminary report on the crash is expected to be filed this week, although the full investigation will take months.

On January 23 divers entered the main section of the fuselage, which is at a depth of 30m.

The plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were found earlier this month.

Information retrieved from the recorders showed that the jet had climbed too fast, causing it to stall, according to Indonesia’s Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan.