Forty bodies found in missing AirAsia plane search

At least 40 bodies have been recovered from the sea in the search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501, the Indonesian navy says.

The bodies were spotted along with debris floating in the Java Sea off the Indonesian part of Borneo, in one of the search zones for the plane.

There has been no official confirmation that the remains come from the plane.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday.

It lost contact with air traffic control en route from Indonesia to Singapore Sunday morning. 

The plane lost communication with Indonesia's Surabaya airport 42 minutes after takeoff, Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told Indonesia's MetroTV.

The Airbus plane left Juanda international airport in Surabaya in east Java at 5.20am and was expected to arrive in Singapore at 8.30am (1130 AEDT).The plane was carrying six crew and 155 passengers - 138 adults, 16 children and a baby, Barata said.

AirAsia said in a statement that the plane was an Airbus A320-200 and that search and rescue operations were in progress.

Mustofa said the plane lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands.

BBC