Passengers on Flight 8501 knew they were going down: Victims had time to put on life-jackets - and two were found holding hands

The bodies of passengers on board doomed AirAsia flight 8501 may wash up on Borneo beaches as stormy weather scatters wreckage and suspends search and rescue operations.

Seven bodies have been recovered from the Java Sea in the 24 hours since wreckage was first spotted 100 miles off the Indonesian coast but fierce winds and strong currents have already dispersed floating wreckage more than 30 miles from the crash site.

Helicopter missions to collect bodies and debris were suspended for much of the day as heavy rain reduced visibility to less than half a mile, with experts warning that the longer the recovery efforts take, the further the bodies will scatter - increasing the likelihood of corpses washing ashore. 

 

The news comes as an Indonesian official who earlier claimed at least one of the recovered bodies was wearing a lifejacket, backtracked to say that in fact none of the victims were wearing one.

Deputy Operations Major-General Tatang Basarnas Zaenuddin's earlier statement led many to believe passengers on board doomed AirAsia flight 8501 would have been aware that the plane was going crash, and raised the possibility some may even have survived the initial impact.