Recovery teams have made patchy progress in the search for bodies from the wreckage of AirAsia flight 8501, finding the remains of just two more victims on the 10th day of operations.

Hindered by rough seas, the teams have found fewer than 40 bodies since the plane crashed during a storm early on December 28, carrying 162 people from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Recovery workers are also yet to find the flight data recorders, although they have found five major parts of the plane on the seabed including a “suspected tail” – where flight recorders are usually housed.

• Search for AirAsia plane continues

Divers were sent down to the sea floor during a break in the weather on Tuesday but they were struggling to investigate the wreckage, according to search official SB Supriyadi.

The operation has prioritised finding the bodies of the victims, all but seven of whom were Indonesian. The bodies found so far were found floating on the sea’s surface, with some still strapped into their seats.

The two bodies found on Tuesday brought the total recovered to 39, despite an extension to the area of sea being searched in the belief that debris and bodies may have drifted in strong currents.

Indonesian navy commander Yayan Sofyan, whose warship Bung Tomo was the first to find debris last week, described to AFP some of the everyday objects they had recovered.

“We found backpacks, suitcases, shoes, a chair for a baby,” he said, adding the search teams were determined to overcome the monsoon season weather to find more bodies.

Indonesia has ordered the suspension of aviation officials involved in the departure of the flight. It says the flight operated by AirAsia Indonesia was flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed.

The airline, a unit of Malaysia-based AirAsia, has been suspended from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route, although Singapore officials said they had given permission for the flight at their end.

Indonesia’s transport ministry also promised action against any domestic airlines violating their flying permits in the country, which has a patchy aviation safety record.

The Indonesian meteorological agency BMKG has said weather was the “triggering factor” of the crash, with ice likely damaging the plane’s engines.

But it remained unclear why other planes on similar routes were unaffected by the weather, and other analysts said there was not enough information to explain the disaster until the flight recorders were recovered.