AirAsia jet's fuselage found, authorities say

The fuselage of AirAsia Flight 8501 has been spotted on the Java Sea floor, Singapore's defense minister told reporters Wednesday.

Ng Eng Hen said the head of his nation's navy told him images of the wreckage were taken by an underwater vehicle sent by one of its ships. He said part of the wing and words on the fuselage could be seen.

It's believed that many bodies of the 162 people who died in the December 28 crash are trapped in the fuselage. So far, at least 48 bodies have been recovered.

On Tuesday, divers retrieved the second "black box" from the bottom of the Java Sea, giving experts essential tools to piece together what brought the jet down.

The cockpit voice recorder was freed from beneath heavy wreckage at a depth of about 100 feet, a day after the flight data recorder was recovered, said Tonny Budiono, sea navigation director at the Transportation Ministry.

"Thank God," he said. "This is good news for investigators to reveal the cause of the plane crash."

The device was to be flown to the capital, Jakarta, to be analyzed with the other black box, a process that could take up to two weeks. Since it records in a two-hour loop, all discussions between the captain and co-pilot should be available.

The plane disappeared from radar less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

Decomposition of the bodies is making identification more difficult for desperate families waiting to bury their loved ones. Nearly all passengers and crew were Indonesian.

The retrieval of the second black box is the latest boost in the slow-moving hunt in the shallow, murky stretch of ocean.

Over the weekend, the tail of the Airbus A320 was recovered, emblazoned with the carrier's red-and-white cursive logo. The black boxes are normally inside the tail, but were missing when the wreckage was pulled to the surface.

The devices were soon located after three Indonesian ships detected strong "pings" being emitted from their beacons, about 22 yards apart. Powerful currents, large waves and blinding silt have hindered divers' efforts throughout the search, but they took advantage of calmer early morning conditions on Monday and Tuesday to recover the instruments.

"They worked together, facing bad weather and high risks to discover what was eagerly awaited by all Indonesian people and the aviation world," First Adm. Abdul Rashid, navy search and rescue task force commander, said of the divers. "We are committed to continuing our search for the fuselage, to find more victims believed to be trapped there."

The information obtained from the black boxes - which are actually orange - will likely be vital. Designed to survive extreme heat and pressure, they should provide investigators with a second-by-second timeline of the flight.

The voice recorder captures all conversations between the pilots and with air traffic controllers, as well as any noises in the cockpit, including possible alarms or explosions. The flight data recorder saves information on the position and condition of almost every major part in the plane, including altitude, airspeed, direction, engine thrust, rate of ascent or descent and what up-or-down angle the plane is pointed.

In their last contact with air-traffic controllers, the pilots of the AirAsia jet asked to climb from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid threatening clouds, but were denied permission because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the plane disappeared. No distress signal was received.