"Since the dawn today, it has been raining, so it reduces our visibility to detect the victims," Joshua, spokesman of the Bandung Search and Rescue office (Basarnas), said here, Tuesday.
The bad weather also reduced the visibility of divers trying to find bodies under the sea, he added.
A total of 44 divers have been deployed to look for bodies of the victims.
The search efforts on the second day of the evacuation operation are focused on nine coordinate spots around Tanjung Karawang area.
The authorities have also deployed 15 boats and four sonar boats to join the operation.
The plane`s wreckage and several body parts were found floating in the sea not far from Jakarta on Monday, but there were no survivors so far.
The Lion Air plane with flight Number JT610, crashed some 15 minutes after taking off from Jakarta toward Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Province, on Monday morning.
The aircraft departed from Jakarta at 6:20 a.m. local time and was scheduled to arrive in Pangkalpinang at 7:05 a.m. local time, according to the Depati Amir airport authority in Pangkalpinang.
Before it lost contact, the aircraft had sought permission to return to Jakarta due to a problem.
The aircraft carried 178 adult passengers, three infants, and six crew members, a pilot having Indian nationality, and a co-pilot.
The Indonesian authorities have set up crisis centers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten and at Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta.
Among the aircraft`s passengers were an Italian national, tens of civil servants from the Finance Ministry and the Supreme Audit Agency, six legislators of Bangka Belitung, and three police officers.
Reporting by Andi Firdaus
Editing by Fardah
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
