The guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson has reportedly discovered six bodies from the search and recovery operation for AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 in the Java Sea.
“The US ship discovered six bodies,” said Widodo, commander of Western Fleet of Indonesian Navy Friday (January 2nd) morning.
USS Sampson is scheduled to approach Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan at 11 a.m. Friday. Sampson is homeported in San Diego and is on an independent deployment to the western Pacific region.
Other than USS Sampson, the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth has also been directed by US Pacific Command to support the search operation. Fort Worth arrived in Singapore on December 29th during a 16-month rotational deployment to US 7th Fleet.