Debris and bodies found floating in the Java Sea have been identified as from the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501. Indonesian authorities further identified a suspicious shadow under the water which they suspected to be the full remains of the aircraft.

Indonesian navy has clarified that 3 bodies were recovered, not 40, which was reported earlier by AFP and ChannelNewsAsia.

The bodies will be sent to Surabaya, the capital of East Java province where the plane took off, for identification, said Bambang Sulistyo, head of the national search and rescue agency.

At a press conference earlier Tuesday, Sulistyo said “At 12:50 Jakarta time, Indonesian Air Force’s Hercules plane found a shadow which looks like part of a plane.”

“At 13:30 Jakarta time (rescuers aboard) the Indonesian Navy warship Bung Tomo saw an object believed to be an emergency exit door of a plane,” said Sulistyo.

“With all the findings, I am as the coordinator of search and rescue 95 percent sure the location and the objects are parts of the plane that we are searching for.”

The Singapore-bound Airbus 320-200 carried 162 people, including 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Malaysia, Singapore, Britain and France.

The routine flight from Indonesia to Singapore vanished midway on the evening of December 28. Rough weather had previously been reported in the flight path, and while the plane had made a request to fly at higher altitudes, no distress signal was issued before it lost radar contact.

Debris recovered from the AirAsia plane crash in the Java Sea was taken to the nearest town of Pangkalan Bun in Indonesia on Tuesday.

Rescue team members were seen carrying a bright blue plastic suitcase that appeared to be in perfect condition.

Other items taken from a helicopter included an oxygen tank.

Rescuers were also filmed carrying a wrapped-up bundle which local television reported was a body.

Several countries are helping Indonesia retrieve the wreckage and the passengers.

Report complied with information from CCTV News, Xinhua and The Associated Press.