Clerics dispatched to AirAsia crash site in Indonesia to pray for victims

A dozen of Muslim clerics were dispatched on Tuesday to the crash site of AirAsia plane to pray for the crash victims and success of the search operation.[Special coverage]

"We will pray for the God who creates all condition and being, may him give the best ways for us," Gusti Kadran, leader of the clerics, told Xinhua prior to getting onboard the helicopter that would bring them to the crash site.

Entering the 10th day since the crash that took place on Dec. 28, the multinational search team has yet to recover blackboxes of the plane due to the heavy weather ensuing around the crash site.

Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi said on Monday that searchers were still struggling to descend the Remotely Operative Vehicle (ROV) due to the continuing bad weather that made the sea unfavorable for search.

The stormy rain has incited waves up to 4 meters high, wind up to 30 knots and zero visibility beneath the sea surface.

Supriyadi also denied recent reports on finding tail part published by Indonesian navy.

He said that the operation team has even yet to locate the tail part.

"What we scan were unclear silhouettes of objects from several dimensions. All of those figures cannot be regarded as data and facts," Supriyadi told Xinhua on Monday.

The tail part stashes the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the plane, known as blackboxes.

The search operation has been focused to find the blackboxes so as to reveal the cause of the crash swiftly.

The crash of AirAsia QZ 8501 in its flight from Surabaya to Singapore was believed to be caused by bad weather.

There were 162 people onboard the jet whose debris were initially spotted on Tuesday last week. Thirty-seven bodies have been recovered from the crash site so far.