Search and rescue (SAR) efforts have confirmed it crashed in the Karimata Straits between Belitung Island and Kalimantan and are concentrating on efforts to find survivors.
Malaysiakini brings you the live updates of information as it comes in.
Latest developments
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Divers not sent out due to bad weather
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Search for black boxes could 'take a week'
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No formaldehyde, no ice injected
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Bodies flown to Surabaya
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Three found, only one recovered
- Bad weather hampers search
LIVE REPORTS
10.32pm: Apart from Hayati Luthfi Hamid, who was buried today, the remains of six other passengers which were recovered in Karimata Strait had been transported in Bhayangkara Hospital this morning for immediate identification by Disaster Victim Identificiation Police Department of Republic of Indonesia (DVI POLRI).
In a statement late today, AirAsia Indonesia says the DVI team is now working on thorough identification which includes DNA check and forensics examination.
“Meanwhile, the search and rescue effort still continues. Indonesian Minister of Transportation has deployed five additional vessels to the searching area.
“To date, there are more than 90 vessels and aircraft from numerous countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, United States, involved in the operation.”
6pm: The first body from the plane crash that was found and identified has been returned to her family in East Java, reports Jakarta Post.
The body of Hayati Lutfiah Hamid was sent today to her family in Sedati district, Sidoarjo regency, East Java, from the hospital in Surabaya.
The East Java Police’s Disaster and Victim Identification division head Commander Budiyono says Hayati’s body was determined from an identification card which was found on her.
Her family also confirmed the necklace and bracelet found on the body as belonging to her.
East Java police chief Anas Yusuf says the forensic results and documents have been sent to the management team of AirAsia Indonesia.
Divers not sent out due to bad weather
3.35pm: Divers waiting to inspect the possible wreck of an AirAsia Indonesia jet off Borneo are unable to resume operations because of heavy seas today, reports Reuters.
Crews were on standby to descend to a large object detected by sonar on the ocean floor, lying just 30-50 metres (100-165 feet) deep.
Divers will not be sent into the water without a target, search official Sunarbowo Sandi is quoted as saying."They wouldn't go in without it," he says. "The divers are not searching."
Frogman commander Lieutenant Edi Tirkayasa tells the news agency that the weather is making the operation extra hard.
"What is most difficult is finding the location where the plane fell – checking whether the aircraft is really there," he is quoted as saying.
"This is very difficult even with sophisticated equipment. With weather like this, who knows? We are still hopeful and optimistic that they'll find it. They must."
Search for black boxes could 'take a week'
2.50pm: Air investigators say they hope to obtain the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 black boxes within a week, which will yield critical information about what happened to aircraft, reports Reuters."The main thing is to find the main area of the wreckage and then the black box," Indonesia's air safety investigator with the National Committee for Transportation Safety Toos Sanitiyoso is quoted as saying.
Sonar has detected a large object on the ocean floor in the Java Sea, just 30-50 metres’ deep, which authorities believe is the main wreckage of the ill-fated Air Asia plane.
However, divers are unable to conduct a full-scale operation due to poor weather today.
No formaldehyde, no ice injected
2.46pm: No formaldehyde was injected into the bodies and no ice was used in transporting the remains for identification to prevent contamination of DNA samples, Channel New Asia’s Indonesia correspondent Devianti Faridz reports.
According to Indonesian police, ointment is applied on the victims' fingers, which are then wrapped in plastic for ease of identification.
The clothes the victims are wearing are recorded down and their bodies cleansed before being placed in coffins.
Bodies flown to Surabaya
2.29pm: The first set of bodies are being flown to Surabaya today, Channel News Asia quotes Indonesian officials as saying.
Four of them – three women and a man – will be sent to Surabaya from Immanuddin Hopital in Pengkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.Recovered bodies are taken to Pengkalan Bun first, the closest naval base to the debris site of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, before being transported to Surabaya.
Three found, only one recovered
2.25pm: The Royal Malaysian Navy Chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar clarifies that of the three bodies discovered by KD Pahang yesterday, only one managed to be recovered.
"Regret to inform that out of the three bodies found by KD Pahang yesterday, only one was recovered today at 0815 due to rough sea (condition)," he says on Twitter.
More bodies found
12.15pm: Two more bodies have been found in Pengkalan Bun waters, off Central Kalimantan, taking the total count of those discovered so far to nine, reports Indonesian portal Tempo.
The two will eventually be flown to a hospital in Surabaya, after the ones already discovered are brought to the Pengkalan Bun naval base from the ship.
Earlier, there was a conflicting report from Singapore’s Today, which said a total of 10 bodies have been recovered so far.
Bad weather hampers search
12pm: Royal Malaysian Navy Chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar tweets that bad weather and sea condition are hampering the ongoing search and rescue operations.
He adds on his official Twitter account that the search area has been expanded to 13,500sqnm (150 x 90nm), double from yesterday's 6,160sqnm.
Another body recovered
11.40am: Another body from the debris site of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has been recovered, reports New Straits Times."We cannot confirm whether the body is of a man or woman but I can tell you it is on it's way here now," Iskandar Airport commander Jhonson Henrico Simatpang is quoted as saying.
The body is being flown to Iskandar Airport at Pengkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, the nearest naval base to the debris site.
9.42am: Singapore’s Today reports 10 bodies in total have been recovered from crash so far, citing Wall Street Journal.
Weather raises hopes
8.38am: According to Reuters, a break in bad weather raises hopes today that divers would be able to investigate what is believed to be the sunken wreck of an AirAsia jet off Borneo and retrieve the black boxes that should explain the cause of the crash.
So
far, at least seven bodies have been recovered from waters near where
sonar has detected a large, dark object on the ocean floor, lying just
30-50 metres (100-165 feet) deep, but heavy seas have so far prevented
divers from investigating it. "They will try again this morning," says Siahala Alamsyah, a naval officer involved in the search.
He says that on Wednesday night, bad weather had prevented a team of 47 Indonesian Navy divers from even flying out to warships at the crash site.
The plane's black box flight data and cockpit voice recorder should help solve the mystery of the crash.Investigators are working on a theory that it went into aerodynamic stall as the pilot climbed steeply to avoid a storm.
Bodies recovered from the Java Sea are being taken in numbered coffins to Surabaya, where relatives of the victims have gathered, for identification.
Authorities have been collecting DNA from the relatives to help identify the bodies.
Some of the bodies recovered so far have been fully clothed, including a flight attendant still wearing her AirAsia uniform. That could indicate the Airbus was intact when it hit the water and also support the aerodynamic stall theory.
Most of the 162 people on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found.
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