Indonesia AirAsia QZ8501 families accept 'sad reality' as search ends

Family members of passengers onboard Malaysian air carrier AirAsia flight QZ8501 pray together inside a holding room at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya on Dec 31, 2014. The families of those who were on board the ill-fated flight have accepted the "sad reality" that some of their relatives' bodies will not be found, as the search operation ended on Tuesday, March 17, 2015. -- PHOTO: AFP.

JAKARTA (AFP): An Indonesian whose daughter-in-law is among 56 people unaccounted for following the December crash of an AirAsia plane said on Wednesday his family had accepted the "sad reality" that her body would never be found.

Rescuers called off the hunt for the remaining passengers on Tuesday, almost three months after Flight QZ8501 went down in stormy weather as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people on board.