Both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered. The plane's fuselage was located on Wednesday (Jan 14) by MV Swift Rescue, according to Singapore's Defence Minister.
All times listed are Singapore time. Refresh this page for updates.
THURSDAY, JAN 15
2.30PM: BASARNAS Chief Soelistyo has said that the operation to lift the fuselage from the seabed has so far failed. Authorities have been attempting to lift the fuselage with balloons, and have added that the mission to locate bodies is still ongoing.
Soelistyo also said that the mission to locate QZ8501 victims will continue, even if no bodies are found in the fuselage. He added that success and failure is part of every mission, and that once the mission is no longer effective or efficient, the operation will end.
WEDNESDAY, JAN 14
11.04PM: AirAsia confirms in its latest statement that 38 bodies have been identified, 10 are still being identified, and two – who were recovered today – have yet to arrive in Surabaya. 50 bodies have been recovered in total.
10.31PM: Interpol visited AirAsia’s crisis centre in Surabaya today to support the Disaster Victim Identification team tasked with identifying bodies.
9.05PM: BASARNAS Head Bambang Soelistyo told media in Jakarta that the plane’s wings were still attached to the body of the plane. The wreckage was located about 800m from the black boxes, at a depth of about 28m, reports Associated Press.
He said his agency had been informed by the Singapore Defence Ministry that one of its ship had located the fuselage.
Associated Press also reported that fishermen found two more bodies today along with the plane's debris and seats, bringing the the total tally to 50.
9.00PM: Now that Singapore’s MV Swift Rescue has located the plane's fuselage, Indonesian divers will be heading down at first light to further investigate. Jack Board reports from Pangkalan Bun.
8.45PM: AirAsia Indonesia admits it committed “administrative negligence” when requesting a change in the Surabaya-Singapore flight schedule, reports The Jakarta Post.
7.51PM: Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen spoke to the Commander Task Group for underwater search operations on board the MV Swift Rescue. The vessel's sonar detected the plane's wreckage about 2km from where the tail was found earlier. The wreckage with wings measured about 26m
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- Ng Eng Hen
7.25PM: AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes says in a tweet he is "gutted and devastated" at the sight of the newly-found fuselage.
"It is so so sad though seeing our aircraft. I'm gutted and devastated. But hopefully we can find the rest of plane and put closure for families," he said.
7.20PM: Malaysia has ended its mission in the Java Sea, says its Chief of Navy. All ships involved are returning to base, he says.
5.51PM: Singapore Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen says MV Swift Rescue has located the plane's fuselage.
5.00PM: Meet the crew on board the United States naval vessel USS Fort Worth - just one of the many groups of experts in a multinational effort to look for answers. Channel NewsAsia's Jack Board reports from the vessel.
4.58PM: Two more bodies from the crashed flight have been identified: Christanto Leoma Hutama, 22, male from Tulungagung, and Jie Stephanie Gunawan, 21, female from Surabaya. Both were Indonesian and were engaged to be married.
Jie Stephanie is among a family of 7 that was travelling together on the flight. Five of the bodies from the group have been identified so far. Read more about the family here.
10.36AM: After days of good weather conditions, today's weather appears unfavourable for the search operation: Strong waves, high winds in the search area, according to the meteorological forecast.
9.52AM: There are fewer ships involved in the search for QZ8501 today, our correspondent Jack Board reports. The authorities are focusing on the site where the main fuselage of the plane is believed to lie.
7.48AM: The search continues for QZ8501 with 23 ships, Malaysia's Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar says in a Twitter post. Foreign warships are also on standby, he says.
TUESDAY, JAN 13
11.06PM: "100 per cent of the things we need are now in our hands," Tatang Kurniadi, head of the National Transport Safety Committee, which will investigate the accident, told reporters after the cockpit voice recorder was lifted to the surface earlier today.
11.01PM: Both QZ8501’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been sent to Jakarta for investigation by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, AirAsia confirms in its latest statement. To date, 48 bodies have been recovered. 36 have been identified, while 12 are still being identified.
7.45PM: The cockpit voice recorder is put on an Indonesia Air Force plane bound for Jakarta.
7.39PM: BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelistyo has assured families with loved ones onboard flight QZ8501 that daily search operations will continue, even after joint search operations cease. Many family members have found it difficult to give their loved ones a proper send off without any remains.
6.38PM: Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) officials face several challenges in identifying bodies recovered - as many of them no longer have fingerprints or recognisable physical features.
6.57PM: The plane's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) arrives in Pangkalan Bun. The recorder was found about 10 metres away from the flight data recorder (FDR) that was retrieved yesterday. The FDR and CVR contain crucial data for investigators trying to find out what caused the crash. The CVR is expected to be flown to Jakarta for analysis. Investigators may need up to a month to get a complete reading of data from both recorders.
6.17PM: The BASARNAS Chief tells media in Surabaya it is not verified QZ8501’s cockpit voice recorder has been recovered.
5.50PM: BASARNAS Chief Bambang Soelistyo, in Surabaya, promised families that he will try his best to find all the passengers that were on board the AirAsia flight.
When asked where he thinks the bodies are, he was unable to answer but cited the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370, saying that “it’s not that simple to find a crashed aircraft underwater”.
5.10PM: BASARNAS will continue daily searches for QZ8501 debris and bodies, even if the joint search is scaled back, said Chief Bambang Soelistyo in Surabaya to concerned families.
He clarified that the body of the plane has not been found yet, just the engine, wings and tail (pictured below).
2.56PM: Families have been told by officials that the BASARNAS chief will be visiting Surabaya later today and that they should raise any concerns they have, such as pictures of bodies circulating online, to him.
The bodies of passenger Yuni Astutik and AirAsia flight attendant Oscar Desano have also been identified, officials added.
1.36PM: The legal timeframe for retrieving bodies is seven days, said BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelistyo in a parliamentary hearing. He added that focus of the operation shifted on the 11th day when the black box was found, but the search for bodies continued.
BASARNAS was focused on finding bodies, while the armed forces was focused on finding fuselage, said Soelistyo.
When asked about the chances of finding more bodies, BASARNAS said it is harder to find bodies underwater than on the surface. BASARNAS had initially thought most of the bodies would be found in the aircraft, but all 48 bodies recovered so far were found spread out in the sea.
11.20AM: "The past few weeks have been the most difficult weeks of my life," AirAsia head Tony Fernandes says in an email to customers.
10.55AM: Suspected but unconfirmed sighting of QZ8501’s engine – Object 18 on the map below – based on the size and shape of underwater wreckage, an investigator tells our correspondent Jack Board.
The map also shows the plane’s tail (12), possible stabiliser (18) and location of retrieved black boxes. A large piece of debris is also in the northwest sector.
According to Malaysia’s Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar, day 17 of the search is focused on Most Probable Area 2, an area spanning 2.5 by 2.5 nautical miles.
Divers are also said to have marked the spot where the plane’s main fuselage is believed to lie, 30m deep.
10.10AM: QZ8501 investigator in Pangkalan Bun tells our correspondent Jack Board that he's awaiting another "large piece of debris" in coming days.
No bodies have been retrieved since Friday, with only 48 of 162 recovered so far, though that could change with reports that the fuselage has been located.
9.34AM: QZ8501's cockpit voice recorder has been found – a day after the flight data recorder was retrieved – and is now on an Indonesian navy ship, according to Indonesia's Transport Minister.
The cockpit voice recorder - part of a plane's black box - records communications between the pilot and his co-pilot, crew and air traffic control.
MONDAY, JAN 12
11.51PM: Divers were deployed today to obtain “visual confirmation” of 2 large objects - suspected to be parts of the aircraft - about 4km from where #QZ8501’s tail was found, according to AirAsia's latest statement.
10.06PM: As joint search and rescue operations shift gear with the recovery of the flight data recorder, the Search and Rescue chief will report to Parliament at 10.30am Jan 13 (Singapore time) on how the operation has progressed. He will then fly to Surabaya at 3pm to meet with families of passengers aboard #QZ8501, Detik.com reports.
9.34PM: The USS Fort Worth has been scanning the seafloor using a pinger locator and a range of underwater sonar technology. Jack Board reports on its search operations from the vessel.
9.09PM: Indonesian Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan appointed six new officers this evening to head several of its civil aviation departments. They include the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry's heads of Airport Operations in Jakarta, Surabaya and Makassar.
The reshuffle took place following disciplinary actions taken against a number of officers charged with mismanaging airport operations.
8.50PM: The plane's flight data recorder arrived at the National Transportation Safety Committee's office in Jakarta this evening, reports Channel NewsAsia's Sujadi Siswo.
8.15PM: The main priority tomorrow is to find the plane's main fuselage and analyse the data flight recorder retrieved today, reports Jack Board from Pangkalan Bun.
7.34PM: Giant balloons might be used to raise the plane's wing so the cockpit voice recorder can be retrieved, BASARNAS operations director Supriyadi said.
7.10PM: Santoso Sayogo, an investigator at Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee, told Reuters there is no evidence to support the theory that QZ8501 exploded before hitting water.
6.43PM: QZ8501 likely "experienced an explosion" before hitting the water due to a significant change in air pressure, Reuters quotes BASARNAS' operations director as saying.
5.50PM: Two more passengers have been identified: Elisabeth Youvita, aged 20, female; and David Gunawan, aged 37, male. Both were from Surabaya.
5.09PM: The chief of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee says the data in the flight data recorder will be read in Jakarta as early as tonight or tomorrow. Investigators from Airbus, Indonesian Transport Ministry and TNI are among those involved.
4.59PM: The flight data recorder has been loaded onto an Indonesia Air Force plane bound for Jakarta, Jack Board reports.
4.49PM: General Moeldoko says he expects more bodies can be found with the plane's fuselage, Sumisha Naidu reports.
4.35PM: First glimpse of the plane's flight data recorder, now at Pangkalan Bun. It was brought to mainland from sea, and will be sent to Jakarta for analysis. The flight data recorder is believed to be in good enough condition to be properly read. Results could be out in two days. General Moeldoko confirms only the flight data recorder has been retrieved. The plane’s voice cockpit recorder has been detected and is still underwater.
4.22PM: General Moeldoko congratulates TNI divers and BASARNAS for retrieving the plane's flight data recorder.
4.14PM: A view of the search operations from a US Seahawk.
1.34PM: The cockpit voice recorder has been located 20m from the flight data recorder, says SAR Director of Operations Supriyadi.
1.02PM: Indonesia Armed Forces chief General Moeldoko has left Pangkalan Bun to the KRI Banda Aceh at the search area to retrieve the black box.
12.24PM: The flight data recorder was found under the debris of the plane's wing, and was loaded onto a ship at 7am, local time, reports Devianti Faridz.
11.11AM: The authorities have cordoned off the black box search area from passing ships, and have applied radio silence so that they can hear the signal, reports Devianti Faridz.
11.07AM: The flight data recorder will now be transported to investigators in Jakarta, says Dow Jones.
10.53AM: The plane's cockpit voice recorder has not yet been found, says the Indonesia search and rescue chief. The black box consists of two pieces of equipment, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.
10.44AM: The flight data recorder has been lifted from the sea, reports Reuters and AFP.
8.45AM: There is no change to the search sectors on Monday, said Malaysia Chief of Navy Abdul Aziz Jaafar. The search focus will be on on Most Probable Area 2, where the black box was found and multiple objects were detected.
SUNDAY, JAN 11
8.23PM: The black box has been found, confirm Indonesia authorities. Retrieval of the data recorders will be attempted on Monday.
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