Tail of Missing AirAsia Flight 8501 Plane Is Found in the Java Sea

The tail of missing AirAsia Flight 8501 has been found in the Java Sea by sonar. An Indonesian official confirmed Wednesday that divers and an unmanned underwater vehicle had spotted the tail of missing AirAsia Flight 8501. However, search crews are still looking for the plane’s black box flight recorder. AirAsiaFlight 8501 went missing on December 28, 2014 with 162 on board after losing contact with air traffic control in bad weather.

The head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said Wednesday that the tail of AirAsia Flight 8501 had been spotted in the Java Sea, a development that could be significant because the plane’s so-called black boxes were contained there.

“The tail section has been found and confirmed,” the official, Bambang Soelistyo, said at a news conference.

He said that the object was identified by sonar early Wednesday and that navy divers and a remote-controlled underwater vehicle had been deployed to confirm the discovery. The team took a photograph of what Mr. Soelistyo said was part of the tail, and it was broadcast on national television.

Flight 8501, an Airbus A320-200, crashed into the Java Sea on Dec. 28 with 162 people aboard, less than an hour after taking off from the Indonesian city of Surabaya bound for Singapore.