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ByEileenNgandRobin Mcdowell The Associated Press PANGKALAN BUN, INDONE- SIA Chiara Natasha's en- tire family was coming to visit for New Year's. The petite, dark-haired 15-year-old had just moved to Singapore in Novem- ber to study at a Method- ist girls' school on a gov- ernment scholarship. Her parents and two brothers had promised to join her to celebrate the holiday and help her settle into dormi- tory life. But instead of greeting her relatives at the airport, she returned home Sunday to Surabaya, Indonesia, to seek any word about the fate of AirAsia Flight 8501, praying that they had somehow survived. Families who lost loved ones aboard the jetliner en- dured another excruciating day of waiting Wednesday as bad weather hindered ef- forts to recover any more bodies and sent wreckage drifting far from the crash site. "Help us, God, to move forward, even though we are surrounded by dark- ness," the Rev. Philip Man- tofa, whose church lost about 40 members in the disaster, told families gath- ered in a waiting room at the Surabaya airport. The search for 162 peo- ple who vanished Sunday aboard the Airbus A320 was severely limited by heavy rain, wind and thick clouds over the Java Sea. Seven bodies, including a flight attendant in her red AirAsia uniform, have been recovered, said Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soe- listyo. Sonar images identified what appeared to be large parts of the plane, but strong currents were mov- ing the debris. Choppy conditions pre- vented divers from enter- ing the water, and helicop- ters were largely grounded. But 18 ships surveyed the narrowed search area, and four of the seven corpses were recovered Wednes- day before the search was called off for the day. Indonesia's meteorol- ogy agency predicted con- ditions would worsen, with more intense rains, through Friday. "It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from yesterday's location," said Vice Air Marshal Su- narbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pang- kalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the tar- geted area. "We are expect- ing those bodies will end up on beaches." It is still unclear what brought the plane down about halfway through the two-hour flight from Sura- baya to Singapore. The jet's last communication indi- cated the pilots were wor- ried about bad weather. They sought permission to climb above threaten- ing clouds but were denied because of heavy air traf- fic. Four minutes later, the airliner disappeared from the radar without issuing a distress signal. The cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders, or black boxes, must be re- covered before officials can start determining what caused the crash. Items re- covered so far include a life jacket, an emergency exit window, children's shoes, a blue suitcase and back- packs filled with food. Simple wooden coffins — numbered 001 and 002 — with purple flowers on top contained the first two bodies, which were sent from Pangkalan Bun to Surabaya for autopsies. The two victims were a woman wearing blue jeans and a boy. The other five bodies — three male and two fe- male — will remain on a warship until the weather clears. Nearly all the passengers were Indonesian, and many were Christians of Chinese descent. The country is pre- dominantly Muslim, but sizeable pockets of people of other faiths are found throughout the sprawling archipelago. Around 10 percent of those in Sura- baya, the nation's second- largest city, are Christian. On Wednesday, around 100 relatives gathered for the airport prayer service where Mantofa urged them to hold onto their faith de- spite their pain. About 40 members of his Mawar Sharon Church died in the crash. "Some things do not make sense to us, but God is bigger than all this," he said. "Our God is not evil." Before breaking up, those gathered stood together and sang with their hands reaching upward. "I surren- der all. I surrender all," they repeated. "I surrender all to God our savior." JAVA SEA We at her h in de rs e ffo rt s to recover AirAsia bodies EILEENNG—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Haidar Fauzie, 60, holds up a picture of his daughter Khairunnisa Haidar, 22, who was a flight attendant on the AirAsia Flight 8501, at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, on Wednesday. APTN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Passengers of the Italian-flagged ferry Norman Atlantic wait to be rescued a er it caught fire in the Adriatic Sea. By Paolo Santalucia The Associated Press BRINDISI, ITALY Stormy weather in the Adriatic Sea thwarted efforts Wednes- day to tow a fire-ravaged ferry to Italy so authorities can investigate the blaze that killed at least 11 peo- ple and search the ship for more possible dead. Ninety-eight people were still unaccounted for Wednesday after a pre- dawn fire raced through the Norman Atlantic ferry on Sunday, Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. It's not clear if those peo- ple ever boarded the ferry — which left Greece on Sat- urday bound for Italy — if they were rescued, or if they died in the fire or in the sea. Hundreds were rescued in the maritime disaster but the exact number of ferry survivors and how many were onboard to begin with are still not known. Volpe said he hoped that Greek authorities would be able to say many peo- ple had been rescued by various ships and brought to Greece. Greece's coast guard later said nine Greeks were still missing but did not resolve other questions. Volpe told Sky TG24 TV it was important to have the ferry towed to Italy "to see if there are bodies aboard... to ascertain what caused the fire and to see if safety measures were respected." He said until the wreck was examined, he couldn't venture a possible cause for the blaze. The Italian captain of the Italian-made ferry, which was operated by a Greek company, was questioned in the southern port of Bari by prosecutors for more than five hours Wednesday. Since a probe is underway, Volpe would not give any details about the questioning. Nearly 40 survivors fi- nally stepped ashore Wednesday in the Italian port of Taranto, brought by one of the cargo ships that rescued passengers from the flaming, smoke- shrouded ferry in the first hours of the maritime di- saster. The blaze on the ferry's car deck sent people scrambling for their lives in the freezing cold, pelted by rain and buffeted by gale- force winds on the uncov- ered top deck. Amateur video made by two Turkish passengers who spent two days aboard the ferry showed clouds of black smoke belched up by the fire and bursts of flame as survivors lined up to be rescued by helicopters. In the video, Italian res- cue helicopters hoisted sur- vivors one by one via cords or inside wire baskets. 98 unaccounted for from ferry fire INVESTIGATION The Associated Press After a turbulent year marred by terror woes, Eb- ola outbreaks and a horrific series of airline disasters, many could be forgiven for saying good riddance to 2014 and gratefully ring- ing in a new year. Across the globe, revelers converged on the beaches of Brazil, the shores of Syd- ney harbor and New York's Times Square to welcome 2015. A look at how the world is celebrating: A RECORD IN DUBAI The Gulf Arab emirate of Dubai was aiming to break the world record for the largest LED-illuminated facade. Some 70,000 LED pan- els wrapped around the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which draws throngs of thousands of spectators every New Year's Eve for an impressive fire- works display. Emaar Properties said a team from Guinness World Records monitored the preparations. Last year, Dubai won the title for the world's largest firework dis- play, according to Guinness. FIRST UP: DOWN UNDER Sydney takes pride in being one of the first ma- jor cities in the world to welcome each new year, and it greeted 2015 in its trademark glittery fash- ion — with a tropical-style fireworks display featuring shimmering gold and sil- ver palm tree pyrotechnic effects. More than 1.5 million revelers crowded along the shores of the city's harbor in warm summer weather to watch the vivid eruption of light over the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and other points. At midnight, the crowd cheered as a 12-minute fire- work display was launched. A tribute to two hostages killed in the December siege inside a downtown cafe was displayed on the pylons of the Harbour Bridge during the main fireworks display. PRAYERS IN INDONESIA The loss of AirAsia Flight 8501 and a deadly landslide in Central Java muted cel- ebrations in Indonesia. In the capital, the city con- ducted prayers for the vic- tims of the tragedies, in ad- dition to the annual Jakarta Night Festival. Other Indonesian cit- ies opted to cancel or tone down their celebrations. Surabaya's Mayor Tri Ris- maharini banned any kind of New Year entertainment in Indonesia's second-larg- est city, where most of the 162 people on the AirAsia flight that crashed Sunday were from. Hundreds of Surabaya residents, includ- ing young children, lit can- dles and braved a drizzle at a park to observe a minute of silence for crash victims. "Let us pray for the griev- ing families of those on board the plane. Let us pray this will be the last tragedy for Surabaya," Rismaharini told the crowd. PHILIPPINE POLICE WARNED Philippines acting Na- tional Police Chief Leon- ardo Espina warned that police who fire their guns during normally raucous celebrations will lose their jobs. Thunderous fireworks and gunfire normally leave communities shrouded in smog and gun smoke ev- ery year and result in hun- dreds of injuries and even deaths. Since the New Year celebration began Dec. 21 more than 160 people have been injured. TBIG BEN BONGS IN THE NEW In London, hundreds of thousands of people were expected to line the River Thames for a fireworks dis- play timed to the midnight bongs of Big Ben, Parlia- ment's famous bell. Revelers in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, will flood the streets for Hog- manay, one of Europe's biggest year-end celebra- tions. The three-day festi- val — derived from Viking celebrations of the winter solstice — began Tuesday with a torch-lit procession of 35,000 people, includ- ing marching bands and troupes in full Viking rega- lia, and a fireworks display atop Calton Hill. ATTHECOPA ...COPACABANA More than 1 million peo- ple are expected to flock to the golden sands of Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, where two dozen art- ists and DJs will perform on three stages. Tourists and locals routinely party until dawn on the beach, staying awake to watch the tropical sun rise for the first time in 2015. PUTIN HAILS ANNEXATION Russian President Vlad- imir Putin used his New Year's speech to hail his nation's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Penin- sula. He said Crimea's "re- turn home" will "forever re- main a landmark in the na- tional history." WATCHING THE BALL DROP New York will drop its Waterford crystal ball at midnight, in a tradition being increasingly copied across the United States with twists celebrating lo- cal icons. Among the items being dropped: a big chili in Las Cruces, New Mexico; a rep- lica peach in Atlanta; a mu- sical note in Nashville, Ten- nessee; a large pine cone in Flagstaff, Arizona; an over- sized spurred cowboy boot in Prescott, Arizona; a 600-pound (270-kilogram) walleye made of wood and fiberglass in Port Clinton, Ohio; an 80-pound (36-ki- logram) wedge of cheese in Plymouth, Wisconsin; and in Escanaba, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a rep- lica of a pasty (pronounced PAS'-tee) — a baked pastry filled with meat and pota- toes. POLICE PROTESTS IN U.S. Amid the celebration, some U.S. cities are on alert for New Year's Eve protests related to recent police kill- ings of unarmed black men. Boston's mayor and police commissioner urged activ- ists to hold off on a planned late afternoon "die-in." CELEBRATION Beach parties, fireworks: World rings in new year ROB GRIFFITH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Fireworks explode over the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge during New Years Eve celebrations in Sydney, Australia. 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