JAKARTA, Dec 30 — The search-and-rescue operation on a crashed AirAsia aircraft continued even as night fell in the area where the plane’s debris and bodies of passengers were found, according to Indonesian navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir.      

The search-and-rescue team would use high-powered spotlights to aid its work, he said in an interview aired live by the television station, TVOne.           

The authorities had confirmed finding remnants of the aircraft and several bodies floating in the waters near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, today afternoon.         

Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200 aircraft with 162 passengers and crew on board, took off from Surabaya, Indonesia, at 5.20am Sunday and was scheduled to arrive at Changi Airport, Singapore, at 8.30am on the same day.   

The last time the aircraft communicated with the Air Traffic Control Tower was at 6.12am Indonesian time (7.12am Malaysian time).             

The passengers and crew in the aircraft were from Indonesia (155), South Korea (three) and one each from Singapore, Malaysia, Britain and France. — Bernama