'Large objects' spotted in AirAsia hunt

Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said on Saturday that two large objects had been spotted in the search for the AirAsia jet.

Soelistyo said that the objects appeared to be some 30 meters (90 feet) below the surface and that a team was attempting to capture an image of them.

"We managed to detect two large objects - one three-dimensioned, another two-dimensioned," Soelistyo said, adding there were signs of an oil spill. "I can confirm that they are parts of the plane we are looking for," he said.

One object was said to be 9.4 meters (31 feet) in length, with the other being 7.2 meters long. "We are trying to lower an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to capture the actual image of the objects on the sea floor, at a depth of 30 metres," Soelistyo said.

Search teams aboard 13 aircraft and 30 ships had expanded their hunt for bodies and wreckage from flight QZ8501 on Saturday, although high waves hindered operations. So far, some 30 bodies have been found.

The Airbus A320, which was carrying 162 passengers, disappeared on Sunday, halfway into a flight from Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya, to Singapore.

Before contact was lost, the pilot said he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic.

Searches on Tuesday gave the first confirmation that the flight had crashed, with some debris - including an exit door, emergency slide and suitcases - already having been found.

The size of the overall search area in the Java Sea south of Borneo was narrowed on Friday to 1,575 square nautical miles - a tenth the size of the search area on Thursday.

Indonesian authorities on Saturday grounded all AirAsia flights from Surabaya to Singapore, saying the airline had not had a permit to fly on Sundays.

rc/bk (AFP, Reuters)