Body pieces, debris and children's clothing were found off the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Sunday, where a Boeing crashed at sea with 62 people on board.
A signal from the device was detected during extensive search operations in the Java Sea, while it appears unlikely to find survivors.
Body pieces, debris and children's clothing were found off the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Sunday, where a Boeing crashed at sea with 62 people on board.
A signal from the device was detected during extensive search operations in the Java Sea, while it appears unlikely to find survivors.
The Indonesian company Sriwijaya Air plane from Jakarta to Pontianak, on the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, lost contact with air traffic controllers on Saturday shortly after 2:40 local time (7:40 GMT), a few minutes after takeoff.
No details have been given at this stage on the possible causes of the accident by the authorities.
"This morning we received two bags, one with items belonging to the passengers and the other with body parts," police spokesman Yusri Yunus said.
The police "are working on identifications," he said.
The first debris was brought to the main port in Jakarta, including an airplane tire and children's pink pants, an AFP journalist observed.
Relief and army deployed
Hundreds of members of the rescue services, navy, 10 warships, helicopters and divers are taking part in the search at sea.
At at least three sites, divers have placed orange buoys and sonar is being used to locate the fuselage, according to an AFP journalist on site.
A navy vessel "detected a signal from the device (...) and a team of divers began to descend and found pieces of the device such as debris and parts with identification numbers and others, "said Hadi Tjahjanto, the commander of the Indonesian armed forces, quoted in a statement from the Ministry of Transport.
The ministry did not say whether the signal came from the device's black box.
The aircraft, which departed from Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, disappeared from radar very soon after take-off, as it was over the Java Sea, near tourist islands just off the coast of Jakarta.
Fifty passengers, including 10 children, and the 12 crew members were on board.
All are Indonesians, authorities said.
The families of the passengers awaited news in anguish.
"I have four family members on the plane - my wife and three children -" said Yaman Zai, who was waiting for them at Pontianak airport, in tears.
"My wife sent me a photo of the baby today (...) how could my heart not be broken," he told AFP on Sunday evening.
A brutal fall
According to data from the FlightRadar24 website, the aircraft reached an altitude of nearly 11,000 feet (3,350 meters) before dropping sharply to 250 feet.
He then lost contact with the control tower.
Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said on Saturday that the device appeared to deviate from its path just before disappearing from radar.
In October 2018, 189 people died in a Boeing 737 MAX crash that crashed into the Java Sea some 12 minutes after takeoff.
An accident involving the same model of aircraft in Ethiopia resulted in the immobilization for months of this type of aircraft and the US aircraft manufacturer was fined $ 2.5 billion this week for inducing mistaken the authorities during the approval process of this device.
Sriwijaya's plane does not belong to the controversial new generation of the Boeing 737 MAX but is a "classic", 26-year-old Boeing 737.
The airline industry in Indonesia has seen tragedies regularly in recent years and several airlines from this country have been banned in Europe in the past.