rupert wingfield-hayes reports. >> reporter: this is now the operating base for the operation to search for and recover debris from flight 8501. you can see behind me here there's troops getting ready, waiting for another helicopter to come in with bodies onboard it. what we've seen here today is a u.s. helicopter from the u.s. navy coming in here from the uss sampson, a ship that's taking part in the search and rescue operation. and it had four bodies onboard. they landed here. the crews here behind me then went out on to the runway with stretchers. they brought the bodies off the helicopters, took them away in ambulances. those bodies have been taken off to a local hospital to be cleaned up. they will then be brought back here and put on this plane to be flown to surabaya, where they will be formally identified at the hospital there and eventually handed over to their families. when they first found wreckage on the sea out there a hundred kilometers away on tuesday, there was a real sense of optimism that this investigation was moving forward fast, that they would find the rest of the

. >> remind you, you are rupert wingfield-hayes. rupert, thank you very much, indeed. >>> now, five men from yemen have been released from the u.s. detention center at guantanamo bay after 12 or more years of captivity. four have been sent to oman the fifth to estonia. their release brings down the number of guantanamo detainees to 122. 28 inmates were moved last year you may remember. well president obama's pledge to close guantanamo when he took office six years ago. the bbc's alina ball has been given special access to the camp. >> it was meant to be temporary, but guantanamo bay is still holding prisoners. we got to walk its darkened corridors, and through the one-way mirrors used by the guards, got to see some of the men who have been here for up to 13 years. the vast majority of whom have never been charged with any crime. but some are starting to believe their wait could soon be over. >> so here's the facility. >> reporter: because the cells are fast emptying, from a high of well over 700, fewer than 130 detainees remain. ther

rupert wingfield-hayes, bbc news tokyo. >> i began by asking rupert if the japanese have managed to verify that voice recording. >> reporter: well we've only got what we've heard from the chief cabinet secretary there, james, where he says he's fairly certain. he wouldn't say what information that's based on. obviously, they'll be doing a voice match, an audio match from previous audio messages that have been posted on the internet, and previous videos. i mean mr. goto is a television journalist, so there's plenty of material for them to do matches. so they haven't given us the final confirmation yet but the likelihood is, they say, this is from him. >> and turning to you, yolanda, in the jordanian capital amman, what more about the negotiations? what are you hearing from the government there? >> reporter: very little new from the government here in the last few hours. we know there are direct talks going on involving religious leaders and tribal leaders. we've just spoken to a coven of the jordanian pilot. he told us again that they have been given assurances by king abdullah himself that

rupert wingfield-hayes has the covered. >> he is a well-known japanese freelance filmmaker who was last seen crossing the border into syria, believe to be on his way to interview members of islamic state. he is a self-styled military contractor. some call him a war tourist. this is a photo showing him in combat fatigues and carrying an assault rifle. this is meant to turn the japanese against any involvement in the fight against islamic state. it has demanded $200 million the same figure, pledged by shinzo abe for countries fighting against islamic state. the government has made it clear it will not give in to terror. mr. abe rejected the demand. >> this is unforgivable. i feel a strong resentment. i demand they immediately release them. >> according to western analysts the video is designed to create fear and people in japan and all countries involved in the fight against islamic state. >> we have seen this with reviews videos. -- previous videos. they try to get western audiences to turn against the government and force the government to stay out of the middle east, to which ross supp

. >> rupert wingfield-hayes does say it seems pretty clear that the government has not agreed to theands coming from islamic state. >> i think at this stage i think we can pretty safely say no negotiations have opened and certainly no money has changed hands. i think the japanese government is being quiet honest when it says it is trying to make contact with these people, but it hasn't succeeded in doing so. as far as the money is concerned, there are two things here, david. one is the amount of money being demanded by islamic state is so vast. it's unlikely that any government would be willing to hand over $200 million for the lives of two people. but also the government of shinzo abe, the prime minister has taken a pretty hard line stance, saying it wants to get these men released but it will never give in to terrorism. those are the words that he used. and that suggests mr. abe has no intention at all of handing over this money. >> now, some amazing pictures here. these are coming from the european space agency and it's of the comet, which is being tracked by the rosetta space pro

. >> that's rupert wingfield-hayes. a pretty harrowing time for the "live" loved ones of those onboard. many have been gathering in surabaya waiting for more news. >> reporter: this is the room where the relatives of the passengers and crew from the aircraft is getting a regular braefing from officials from the government the police and airline officials here. compensation package is starting to be discussed here. what we've been hearing from the relatives here is that their main priority is just to get the bodies of their loved ones back as soon as possible. they're getting increasingly worried that the longer it takes for the bodies to be retrieved from the water, the more likely the bodies will decompose and it will make it difficult for them to be identified. we know that today among the bodies that have been identified is one of the flight attendants from the aircraft. and it's been a slow progress for the relatives here in terms of bodies to be retrieved from the water. there's an increasing suspicion that the rea

our correspondent, rupert wingfield hayes is in manila for us and he joins the crowds as they waited's the first glimpse people here have got of pope francis, since his plane touched down on manila's national airport about a half an hour ago. they have been waiting patiently for him. and you can see the excitement here of the crowds here. the airport is several kilometers away. we're in the middle of manilla, but there are literally tens maybe hundreds of thousands of people lining this boulevard, all the way from here to the airport, waiting for him to arrive and also waiting for the motor gate to come past here this evening, in the hopes they can just catch a glimpse of him in his limbousine as he passes here. >> here comes the pope's motorcade. and you can hear the excitement in the crowd building here as the pope's car approaches. and there's a really unexpected bonus here. because we were told the pope would be traveling in a closed limousine this evening on his trip into manila. as you will see any moment now, he is in an open popemobile. there he is very clear for all the crow

rupert wingfield-hayes has been following the story for us from tokyo. >> reporter: these are not happy days for prime minister shinzo abe and his government. another morning has brought another audio tape apparently from japanese hostage, kenji goto. in parliament, mr. abe said, he is still not entirely sure that the tape is from mr. goto. we are currently urgently analyzing the new message released on the internet he says. due to the nature of the issue, i cannot tell you exact details, but the government will continue to do its utmost to gain the early release of mr. goto. but in a briefing a short time later, japan's chief cabinet secretary appeared to contradict the prime minister. >> we are currently trying to confirm the authenticity of the latest audio message. we think there is a high probability that thitss is the voice of mr. goto, based on various information. >> reporter: in the new audio tape the voice thought to be mr. goto says in return for his life, this woman, convicted suicide bomber sajida al rishawi, must be brought to the turkish-syrian border by sunset this eveni