Air Asia search: Rescuers start retrieving bodies, debris from water; '95%' likely from plane

 

Updated map showing the search zones for the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501

WHAT THEY KNOW SO FAR: 

- Indonesia air traffic control (ATC) lost contact with AirAsia flight QZ8501 bound for Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia and carrying 162 people on board went missing on Sunday morning, around an hour after it left Juanda International Airport at 5:35am Indonesia time.
- Indonesian rescue personnel are descending into the water to retrieve the first bodies and debris found in the area, about 10km away from where the plane was last seen on the radar. Indonesia's search and rescue chief says he is "95 per cent sure" that the debris belong to the missing aircraft. Next-of-kin of the passengers and crew have also been informed to this effect.
- The plane was over the Java Sea between Belitung island and Pontianak, on Indonesia's part of Kalimantan island, tracked four minutes after its pilot, Captain Iriyanto, stopped responding to ATC. Iriyanto had requested at 6:12am Indonesia time to veer left (this was approved) and ascend to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet. After Indonesia's ATC informed the pilot at 6:14am Indonesia time of a revised height of 34,000 feet (because flight QZ8502 was cruising at 38,000 feet altitude), there was no response. The plane was then officially declared missing at 7:55am Indonesia time.

We've put together the stories of some of the passengers and crew on board the plane as well. 
4:48pm: Yahoo Singapore has been informed by a relative of the next-of-kin of a passenger on board the missing plane that the debris found is confirmed to be from QZ8501. They have also been told to prepare for the worst.
4:38pm: Indonesian channel TVOne has started broadcasting images of divers descending from helicopters into the water to retrieve bodies and other items that have so far been found in the area:
 
A screengrab from Indonesian channel TV One shows a diver descending into the water to retrieve bodies and other …
4:29pm: The Associated Press reports that bodies were found floating near the site where the missing plane was last seen.
Meanwhile, an air force plane spotted a "shadow" on the seabed, believed to be the missing jet.
3:59pm: Indonesia search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo says he is "95 per cent sure" that the debris found so far by search and rescue teams is from the missing AirAsia flight, announcing this in a press conference broadcasted live minutes earlier.
"The remaining 5% (doubt) is because I have yet to see for myself the emergency door and other debris," he added. The debris, he said, were found 10km away from the spot where the plane was last seen on the radar.
He said that all debris found will be brought to the search base in Belitung, and has mobilised all resources searching the water to move toward the area where the items, and at least one body, were spotted.
He also said a boat with 11 divers from the Indonesian navy and the Indonesian search and rescue team has been sent to the exact location so they can pick up as much evidence as possible to examine.
3:28pm: The Jakarta Post quotes Indonesian aviation chief Djoko Murjatmodjo as saying that debris found by the Indonesian search and rescue team so far is confirmed to be "from an aircraft bearing red and white colours".

“The recovery process will now be centered in the debris location in coordination with Basarnas [the National Search and Rescue Agency],” he reportedly said.

2:25pm: Two images from AFP of the alleged plane debris spotted in the water:
 
One of the pieces of alleged plane debris spotted floating in the water. 

 
This aerial view taken from an Indonesian search and rescue aircraft over the Java Sea shows floating debris spotted …

Yahoo