CRI听力:Tail Section of the AirAsia Plane to Be Recovered Today

Authorities in Indonesia are planning to recover the tail section of the crashed AirAsia plane today.

Bambang Soelistyo, head of National Search and Rescue Agency in Indonesia, made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday.

"To speed up, tomorrow we plan to lift the tail that we have found up onto the surface, having the option of using a floating balloon or cranes that we have prepared on the 'Cres Onyx' ship."

The black boxes of AirAsia flight QZ8501 are believed to be in the tail of the crashed plane.

Meantime, authorities say the recovery of victims' bodies remains a priority.

So far, 44 bodies out of 162 passengers onboard the ill-fated plane have been recovered.

Officials are hopeful some of the bodies still unaccounted for will be found inside the fuselage, which is thought to be lying near the tail.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders are crucial to helping determine what caused the jet carrying 162 people to vanish part-way into a two hour flight from Surabaya en route to Singapore.

It is not clear what caused the plane to crash, but bad weather is believed to be a contributing factor.