The Indonesian military said Tuesday that it was stopping its efforts to recover the remains of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 almost a month after the commercial jet crashed into the sea.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, Basarnas, will continue its work to try to retrieve bodies from the wreckage site in the Java Sea, a civilian source close to the search and rescue operations told .
The military provided the majority of personnel and hardware involved in the recovery operation, which was hindered by bad weather and technical problems.
“We are really disappointed,” Imam Sampurno, whose four family members who were on the plane still haven’t been found, said of the military’s announcement. “We really hope the evacuation process is still going.”