AIRASIA QZ8501 PLANE CRASH - Debris, bodies found

Missing AirAsia jet: Debris, bodies found

CNBC.com staff | @CNBC

7 Mins Ago

Debris, luggage, life vests and bodies have been found in the search for AirAsia flight QZ8501, which went missing early on Sunday, according to various media reports.

Indonesian officials confirmed that the debris, which was located close to the island of Borneo near the last captured radar message from the missing jet, were from the plane. The country's search and rescue agency has confirmed with NBC that at least six corpses have been found, three of which have been recovered.

The news was initially reported by the AFP news agency, which has also stated that a "shadow" resembling an plane had been spotted on the seabed in the same area. Indonesian television has shown footage of the recovery attempts by rescue teams and has broadcast images of objects floating in the sea.

Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia, was one of the first to react to the news saying that his heart was "filled with sadness", and offered his condolences to the families involved.

"I am rushing to Surabaya. Whatever we can do at AirAsia we will be doing," he said on the social media site Twitter, shortly after the news. "Words cannot express how sorry I am."

Bay Ismoyo | AFP | Getty Images

News of the search trickled in during Tuesday morning with Indonesian air force official Agus Dwi Putranto holding a press conference earlier in the day.

"In a number of photos, there appears to be at least a few fragments. Each fragment is brown and rectangular in shape, silver-colored elongated rods as well as black and red flakes," he told reporters.

Earlier on Tuesday, AirAsia said it would fly passengers' families over a patch of ocean where the plane is thought to have crashed.

The missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 had been carrying 162 people—including 155 passengers, two pilots, one engineer and four cabin crew—to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia. 

Indonesian officials have said that no signals had been detected from the plane's emergency locator transmitters (ETLs) and search efforts had been focused on areas northeast of Indonesia's Bangka-Belitung Islands, which are located between Singapore and Surabaya in the Java Sea. The sea depth around the islands is said to be 25 to 50 meters deep, according to Reuters.

The search for the plane has been challenging amid difficult weather conditions – including heavy rains and thunderstorms – which are suspected to have played a role in the flight's sudden disappearance.

—Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102291826