Surabaya Airport

Thousands of Indonesians were spending a miserable Eid today after failing to make it home to see their families after erupting volcanoes closed six airports, including in the country's second biggest city.

Ash spewing from an erupting volcano closed the airport serving Indonesia's second-biggest city today, as millions of people were travelling across the archipelago ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid.

Highlighting the depth of Indonesia's air safety problems, the transportation ministry announced harsh measures today against everyone who allowed AirAsia Flight 8501 to take off without proper permits - including the suspension of the airport's operator and officials in the control tower.

Indonesian Yunita Syawal first feared that her brother was on AirAsia Flight 8501 when she was sent a selfie of him and his friends boarding one of the carrier's planes at Surabaya airport.

A much needed break in the weather gave searchers a window Thursday to "fight with full force" to find the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, with officials also hustling to locate the fuselage of the plane that crashed in the sea four days ago.

Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 Wednesday, and sent wreckage drifting far from the crash site, as grieving relatives "surrounded in darkness" gathered in an airport and prayed for the strength to move forward.

More than 100 distraught relatives of passengers aboard missing Flight QZ8501 were hunkered down at a makeshift crisis centre at Indonesia's Surabaya airport in East Java on Sunday, waiting anxiously for news.

A volcanic eruption in East Java, Indonesia, showered ash and debris over parts of densely populated east and central Java, resulting in the closure of three airports.

A government official says a light aircraft has crashed in bad weather in eastern Indonesia and burst into flames, killing four people on board.

Thousands of Indonesians were spending a miserable Eid today after failing to make it home to see their families after erupting volcanoes closed six airports, including in the country's second biggest city.

Ash spewing from an erupting volcano closed the airport serving Indonesia's second-biggest city today, as millions of people were travelling across the archipelago ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid.

Highlighting the depth of Indonesia's air safety problems, the transportation ministry announced harsh measures today against everyone who allowed AirAsia Flight 8501 to take off without proper permits - including the suspension of the airport's operator and officials in the control tower.

Indonesian Yunita Syawal first feared that her brother was on AirAsia Flight 8501 when she was sent a selfie of him and his friends boarding one of the carrier's planes at Surabaya airport.

A much needed break in the weather gave searchers a window Thursday to "fight with full force" to find the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, with officials also hustling to locate the fuselage of the plane that crashed in the sea four days ago.

Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 Wednesday, and sent wreckage drifting far from the crash site, as grieving relatives "surrounded in darkness" gathered in an airport and prayed for the strength to move forward.

More than 100 distraught relatives of passengers aboard missing Flight QZ8501 were hunkered down at a makeshift crisis centre at Indonesia's Surabaya airport in East Java on Sunday, waiting anxiously for news.

A volcanic eruption in East Java, Indonesia, showered ash and debris over parts of densely populated east and central Java, resulting in the closure of three airports.

A government official says a light aircraft has crashed in bad weather in eastern Indonesia and burst into flames, killing four people on board.