AirAsia Wreckage Found: TV One Slammed After Showing Video of Bodies, Families on Air (Photos)

Indonesian officials said that rescuers looking for missing AirAsia Flight QZ-8501 found debris and bodies off the coast of Borneo on Tuesday. Relatives of the 162 people on board broke down in tears after it was shown on live TV, prompting criticism against the broadcaster that showed the live footage.
AirAsia Wreckage Found: TV One Slammed After Showing Video of Bodies, Families on Air (Photos)
In this image taken from video released by TV One, a rescuer is lowered on rope from a hovering helicopter near a body in Java Sea waters, Indonesia Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. Indonesian officials on Tuesday spotted six bodies from the AirAsia flight that disappeared two days earlier, and recovered three of them, in a painful end to the aviation mystery off the coast of Borneo island. (AP Photo/TV One via AP Video) TV OUT
Jack Phillips
12/30/2014
Updated:
12/31/2014

A relative of passengers of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 weeps as they wait at the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. Several pieces of debris have been spotted floating in the sea off Borneo island, possibly linked to the missing AirAsia jetliner, an Indonesia National Search and Rescue spokesman said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
A relative of passengers of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 weeps as they wait at the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. Several pieces of debris have been spotted floating in the sea off Borneo island, possibly linked to the missing AirAsia jetliner, an Indonesia National Search and Rescue spokesman said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

 

Relatives of passengers of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 comfort each other at the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. More planes will be in the air and more ships on the sea Tuesday hunting for AirAsia Flight 8501 in a widening search off Indonesia that has dragged into a third day without any solid leads. Flight 8501 vanished Sunday in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. (AP Photo/Trisnadi Marjan)
Relatives of passengers of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 comfort each other at the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. More planes will be in the air and more ships on the sea Tuesday hunting for AirAsia Flight 8501 in a widening search off Indonesia that has dragged into a third day without any solid leads. Flight 8501 vanished Sunday in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. (AP Photo/Trisnadi Marjan)

TV One, an Indonesian news channel, was panned on social media websites after it showed footage of the bodies and at the same time, showed the live reaction of families of the passengers. At least two family members were carted out of the room in Surabaya, Indonesia, where they were waiting for news on their loved ones.

There have been questions about how the plane disappeared and crashed. One seems to center on the pilot’s decision to not make a distress call.

As pilot and author Patrick Smith notes, “effectively it means nothing.”

“Communicating with air traffic control is pretty far down the task hierarchy when dealing with an emergency. The pilots’ priority is to control the airplane and deal with whatever malfunction or urgency is at hand. Talking to [air traffic control] comes later, if it’s practical,” he wrote.

The vast majority of the passengers were Indonesian, who were likely going to Singapore for the holidays. Haidar Fauzie, 60, said his daughter Khairunnisa Haidar was a flight attendant on the plane.

“From the start, we already knew the risks associated with being a stewardess,” Fauzie said. “She is beautiful and smart. It has always been her dream to fly. We couldn’t have stopped her.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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