SURABAYA, Indonesia — Bodies, along with debris, have been spotted Tuesday in the Java Sea, where AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished three days ago, officials said.
Indonesian officials spotted the bodies about 6 miles from the plane's last communications with air-traffic control. Indonesian navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir told Agence France-Presse that a reported 40 bodies had been retrieved by the warship Bun Tomo, and that the number is growing.
BAY ISMOYO, AFP/Getty Images
Indonesian air force CN295 crew members take part in a search and rescue operation for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 over waters near Pangkalan, Central Kalimantan, on Dec. 30, 2014.
Malaysia's TV One showed live video of a body, floating in the water near the Indonesian part of Borneo, sparking some family members of passengers watching the live transmission from the crisis center at Surabaya's Juanda airport to break down in tears.
At least three women were carried out by stretcher.
Officials said debris spotted in the area where the flight is believed to have gone down is "95% likely" to be from the plane, CNN reported.
A "shadow" seen on the seabed by an air force plane is believed to be the missing jet, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said, according to Agence France-Presse.
"God blessed us today. At 12:50 the air force Hercules found an object described as a shadow at the bottom of the sea in the form of a plane," he told reporters, the agency reported.
An Indonesian military aircraft earlier saw white, red and black objects about 105 miles south of Pangkalan Bun. AirAsia planes are red and white.
National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi told the Associated Press that from an aircraft above, he saw what appeared to be a life jacket and an emergency exit door. More wreckage could be seen beneath the water.
The search has focused on a 70-square-nautical mile area between Belitung island, off Sumatra, and Borneo island. The water in the busy shipping lane is about 150 feet deep.
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AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted, "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am."
Ifan Joko, 54, said he was still hoping for a miracle. His brother, Charlie Gunawan, along with his wife, their three children and two other family members, were traveling to Singapore on the plane to ring in the New Year.
"I know the plane has crashed, but I cannot believe my brother and his family are dead," he said, wiping a tear. "… We still pray they are alive."
The Airbus A320, which took off from Surabaya, lost contact with air-traffic control around 7:24 a.m. Singapore time Sunday (6:24 p.m. ET Saturday), the airline said. Pilots had asked for permission to climb to avoid storm clouds, but six other aircraft were in the vicinity, so controllers temporarily denied their request. Minutes later, the plane vanished from radar screens without declaring an emergency.
Officials on Monday said they held out hope for survivors but had prepared for the worst.
"Based on the coordinates that we know, the evaluation would be that any estimated crash position is in the sea and that the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Henry Bambang Soelistyo said at a Monday news conference.
The tragedy is the third commercial air disaster involving airlines in the southeast Asia region this year. Mystery still surrounds Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8 without a trace en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard. On July 17, another Malaysia Airlines craft was shot down over rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine while on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board.
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