AirAsia flight QZ8501 crash: Body recovered wearing life jacket as sonar image appears to show outline of aircraft just 30m underwater

Ships and planes have been scouring the Java Sea for the missing aircraft since Sunday

Indonesian authorities claim a body wearing a life jacket has been recovered from the crash site of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 as a sonar image appears to show the outline of the aircraft just 30 metres below the water.

The discovery of an individual wearing a life jacket, as well as a woman in a cabin crew uniform, suggests that the aircraft was intact when it hit the water, a theory supported by the debris being “fairly contained” according to aviation experts.
Divers have been hampered by poor weather conditions, battling with heavy rain, strong winds and waves of up to three metres, but authorities confirmed that seven bodies, four men and three women, have been recovered from the crash site of the Airbus 320-200 carrying 162 people.
A Hercules pilot who was at the scene yesterday, describing seeing three bodies "holding hands" during the recovery.
On the ground many relatives remain with desperate hope, unable to accept their families may not come home. Tragically, the eight-year-old son of QZ8501's pilot believes "daddy is still at work", the boy's uncle told the Telegraph today.
Officials claimed that reports yesterday indicating 40 bodies had been found were a “miscommunication”.
Search and rescue agency official Tatang Zaenudin said: “This morning, we recovered a total of four bodies and one of them was wearing a life jacket.”

Read more: Pilot describes seeing victims 'holding hands'
21 most powerful photos from the crash
First stories behind tragic victims
Investigators piecing together the final fatal minutes

Authorities also warned that they expect bodies to start washing ashore along Borneo’s coastline in the coming days as strong winds and currents shift the debris almost 30 miles since they were first discovered yesterday.
The sonar image appears to show an object "about 30 to 50 metres (100 to 165 feet) underwater," Hernanto, head of the search and rescue agency in Surabaya, said of the object which is believed to be lying upside down on the sea bed.

In pictures: The 21 most powerful images from search for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501

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  AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes has offered an immediate advance of money to victims’ families, describing the incident as a "scar (that will be) with me for the rest of my life".
No survivors have been found.
Families were shocked and horrified yesterday after a local TV channel aired footage of the debris, simultaneously filming their reactions in the Surabaya airport. The move was widely condemned with international channels - who picked up the footage - apologising for airing it.
The AirAsia Flight disappeared on Sunday en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia, prompting an international search effort combining Malaysian, Australian, Chinese, American and Indonesian contributions.
Details have begun emerging of the 155 passengers, including 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crews. Four men and three women have so far been pulled from the sea, including flight assistant Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi.