Tail of missing AirAsia plane found in Java Sea

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Wednesday, January 7, 2015
National Search and Rescue Agency personnel carry the seats of AirAsia Flight 8501 after being airlifted by a U.S. Navy helicopter, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, Monday, Jan. 5, 2015.
National Search and Rescue Agency personnel carry the seats of AirAsia Flight 8501 after being airlifted by a U.S. Navy helicopter, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia.
Tatan Syuflana-AP

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia -- Indonesia's search and rescue chief says divers and an unmanned underwater vehicle have spotted the tail of the missing AirAsia plane in the Java Sea, the first confirmed sighting of any wreckage 11 days after Flight 8501 disappeared with 162 people on board.

Henry Bambang Soelistyo told reporters Wednesday that searchers were able to get a photograph of the debris.

The find is particularly important because the all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, are located in the aircraft's tail.

Soelistyo says the top priority remains recovering bodies and the black boxes. So far, 40 corpses have been found.

DEVELOPING: We will add more details to this report as soon as they become available.

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