Next of kin have been asked for DNA samples to help identify the victims.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday and remains were located in the sea on Tuesday.

The authorities say seven bodies have been retrieved, but bad weather is hampering further salvage efforts.

A public memorial will be held in Surabaya on Wednesday evening local time, and the governor of East Java province has told the BBC that all New Year's Eve celebrations have been cancelled.

On board the plane were 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew.

It is not yet clear what happened to the plane but its last communication was a request from air traffic control to climb to avoid bad weather. The pilot did not respond when given permission.

A three-day search ended on Tuesday when remains including aircraft parts, luggage and the bodies were found in the Karimata Strait, south-west of the town of Pangkalan Bun in the Indonesian part of Borneo.

Wind and rain

The bodies were flown to Surabaya's Juanda airport on Wednesday afternoon from a hospital in Pangkalan Bun, where they had been sent from the crash site.

Another five bodies are reported to be on board a ship on their way to a harbour near Pangkalan Bun.

Four of the seven bodies are male and three female, one of them a flight attendant.

(BBC News)