Full Coverage: Crash of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501

Ten days after Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea, search crews on Wednesday found the aircraft’s tail underwater in the first confirmed sighting of the wreckage of the Airbus A320-200.

The search for AirAsia flight wreckage continued Tuesday in the Java Sea, a day after Indonesian authorities levied the first punishments stemming from the plane crash by suspending officials connected to the airline’s alleged flight schedule violation.

Indonesian navy divers focused Monday on locating the tail of the crashed AirAsia jet, which was believed to hold the “black box” flight recorders that could help determine what caused the plane to plunge into the Java Sea.

One week after an AirAsia jet crashed into the Java Sea, Indonesian divers equipped with cameras and sonar beacons plunged into the storm-tossed waters Sunday after officials said four large objects had been detected on the sea floor.

The AirAsia crash investigation gathered pace Friday as U.S.

Divers backed by undersea detection systems prepared to plunge into the murky Java Sea on Friday morning in a fresh bid to locate the wreckage of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, believed to be submerged 150 feet below the surface.

Fighting high winds and choppy waves, recovery teams lifted seven bodies from Indonesian waters Wednesday as naval officials reportedly obtained the first sonar image showing a crashed AirAsia jet lying upside down under the sea.

Recovery teams early Wednesday pulled bodies of people aboard Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 — including a woman in a flight attendant’s uniform — from the rough, shallow waters of the Java Sea as the three-day mystery over the plane’s whereabouts reached a heartbreaking resolution for the families of the 162 passengers and crew members aboard.

Two San Diego-based Navy ships have been sent to assist in recovery efforts for the Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet that authorities said Tuesday went down in the Java Sea.

Several pieces of debris were spotted floating off Borneo Island and could possibly be linked to the AirAsia passenger jet lost over the Java Sea, an Indonesia National Search and Rescue spokesman told the Associated Press.

AirAsia’s colorful chief executive, Tony Fernandes, built an aviation empire on the dream of bringing low-cost air travel to millions of people in Asia.

Investigators resumed an urgent, rain-dampened hunt for a missing plane in the waters of Southeast Asia early Monday as a search official said the jetliner carrying 162 people was probably “at the bottom of the sea.”

The AirAsia jetliner that went missing over the Java Sea early Sunday was traveling a route packed with turbulent thunderstorms and lightning strikes, prompting questions about whether the jet’s last transmission -- a request to change its altitude to avoid clouds -- could provide a clue to its disappearance.

An AirAsia Indonesia commercial flight to Singapore with 162 people on board was missing Sunday after it lost contact with air traffic controllers, according to the airline and aviation officials.