A number of spooked passengers refused to reboard an AirAsia plane after it turned back from the runway following a loud, explosion-like sound.
Indonesia AirAsia flight 7633 was taxiing in preparation for take-off at Surabaya Airport, where flight QZ 8501 took off from last week, when a power unit used to start the plane shut down, airline officials have said.
The pilot subsequently turned back to the gate, according to ABC online, however 60 of the 161 passengers refused to reboard after disembarking and waiting for the engine to be fixed, with AirAsia issuing full refunds.
The plane later landed safely at its destination in West Java after undergoing a check, according to local media reports quoting Indonesia AirAsia chief executive Sunu Widyatmoko.
AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes has called the media reports and headlines “sensational” and “silly”, and urged staff to remain strong.
"Facts will come out. As I have said we are calm, will take the hits now as our focus is families. But time will show what AirAsia is all about," he tweeted.
Recovery crews continue to search for wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in the Java Sea despite bad weather, with a number of large pieces being pulled from the ocean.
After six days of searching, the recovery crews had recovered 30 bodies, and have now found more wreckage of the plane in 29 metres of water, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The news of the wreckage discoveries came late on Friday night, when authorities were concerned the wreck would break up in strong undersea currents, however a 23 metre long part, suspected to be the tail of the plane, has been recovered according to a Tempo online report.
As of last night, teams had located five large objects found on the seabed off the coast of Borneo, according to reports from ABC online, while the search for more of the 162 passengers continues.
"We've found four big parts from the plane we're looking for," search and rescue agency chief Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta.
Another official, Marsma Supriyadi, said that poor visibility has hampered the efforts to capture images of the objects using underwater remote operating vehicles.
"The visibility is only two metres," he said. "It's cloudy, making it difficult for the cameras to detect."
Supriyadi also commented on the low number of victims found, saying that it was unlikely more bodies would be found floating around, as reported in ABC online.
"Because we're already in the seventh day … the chances are they have all sunk," he said.
"There's a possibility they'll be found on beaches."
"With luck we'll find more, because search operations are continuing," he told reporters in Pangkalan Bun, close to the site where wreckage from the airliner was discovered on Tuesday.
The plane, en route to Singapore, crashed into the Java Sea on Sunday about an hour after leaving Surabaya.
