Recovery teams have expanded their search in the Java Sea as they raced to find bodies and wreckage from AirAsia Flight 8501, which they fear have drifted in rough weather that has hampered operations.

As the massive relief operation enters its ninth day, officials are hopeful for a break in poor conditions to send divers down to the area where large parts of the crashed Airbus A320-200 have been found.

Only 34 bodies have so far been recovered. A total of 162 people were onboard when the plane crashed into the sea during on a storm on December 28, en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

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“Hopefully the weather is good today so that the ROVs (remotely-operated underwater vehicles) and other instruments can be used and our divers can go to the seabed again,” search and rescue official S B Supriyadi told AFP.

Recovery crews made some progress on Sunday, retrieving four more bodies and locating a fifth large chunk of the plane.

The discoveries came after Indonesia’s meteorological agency said ice likely caused the plane’s engine to stall, and as the pilot’s daughter urged the public not to blame her father.

The search – being assisted by several countries including Australia, the US and Russia – will expand eastwards on Monday on suspicions that strong currents have caused parts of the plane to drift.

Several aircraft are making their way from Pangkalan Bun, a town on the island of Borneo with the nearest airstrip to the wreckage, to scour the sea’s surface. Speed boats are sweeping the coastline for signs of bodies that may have drifted to shore.

An initial report by Indonesia’s meteorological agency BMKG suggested the weather was the “triggering factor” behind the accident.

Indonesian Air Force personnel search for victims of the AirAsia flight. Photo: AAP

The report referred to infra-red satellite pictures that showed the plane was passing through cloud top temperatures of minus 80 to minus 85 degrees Celsius.

But it remained unclear why other planes on similar routes were unaffected by the weather.

The search operation has prioritised finding the bodies of the victims, of whom 155 were Indonesian, with three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Briton and a Frenchman – co-pilot Remi Plesel.

The daughter of the pilot, Captain Iriyanto, has made a televised plea urging people not to blame her father.

“He is just a victim and has not been found yet. My family is now mourning,” said Angela Anggi Ranastianis.

“As a daughter, I cannot accept it. No pilot will harm his passengers,” she told TV One.

In his last communication, experienced former air force pilot Iriyanto said he wanted to change course to avoid the menacing storm system. Then all contact was lost, about 40 minutes after take-off.

Many of the victims’ relatives have gathered to wait for news and prepare funerals in Surabaya, where a crisis centre has been set up for identifying bodies.

Indonesia has pledged to investigate alleged flight violations by AirAsia, saying the aircraft had been flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed.

The airline has now been suspended from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route.