Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of the jetliner on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives of passengers of AirAsia Flight 8501 pray at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of the jetliner on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Officers of the National Search And Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) carry a body of one of the victims on board the ill-fated AirAsia Flight 8501, from a helicopter upon arrival at the airport in Pangkalan Bun,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Officers of the National Search And Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) and Indonesian Air Force personnel unload a body of one of the victims on board AirAsia Flight 8501 from a helicopter at the airport in Pangkalan... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives check the documents of passengers on board AirAsia Flight 8501, which will be used for identification purpose, at the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives of passengers of AirAsia Flight 8501 cry after visiting the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. Philip Mantofa, whose church lost about 40 members in the disaster, told families gathered in a waiting room at the Surabaya airport. The massive hunt for 162 people who vanished Sunday aboard the Airbus A320 traveling from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, was severely limited due to heavy rain, wind and thick clouds. Seven bodies, including a flight attendant in her red AirAsia uniform, have been recovered, said Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo. "It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from yesterday's location," said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the site. It is still unclear what brought the plane down. The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control early Sunday shortly after the pilot requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude because of bad weather, according to Indonesian officials. The aircraft's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, must be recovered before officials can start determining what caused the crash. One of the women found was wearing a flight attendant's uniform, he said. The country is predominantly Muslim, but sizeable pockets of people of other faiths are found throughout the sprawling archipelago. "Some things do not make sense to us, but God is bigger than all this," he said. Some sat with their eyes full of tears, hands covering their mouths or heads buried in their hands.
– A day after debris was first spotted, Indonesian searchers have confirmed that sonar equipment has detected wreckage from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 at the bottom of the sea—though whether the plane is in one piece or broken up remains to be seen, reports CNN. The wreckage was found between 60 and 120 miles from the plane's last known location over the Java Sea, and the bodies of six more men and women—one of whom was wearing a flight attendant's uniform—had been recovered as of late yesterday, officials said. Other news: Though the wreckage has been located, victims' grieving families are growing frustrated with the recovery and identification process, reports Sky News. "I have so many precious memories that are gone," says one woman who lost five family members. "But I cannot start to grieve properly until we can hold proper funerals." AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters he hoped that the families would have "at least some closure." In spite of heavy winds, rain, and 6-foot waves, searchers are continuing to look for more bodies and plane parts. But the weather is causing the wreckage to drift—by a lot, reports the AP. "It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 30 miles from yesterday's location," says the search and rescue coordinator on Borneo island in the closest town to the site. "We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches."