DHAKA: An Indonesian naval patrol vessel found what the captain said could be the tail of a missing Indonesia AirAsia plane, the section where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located.

‘We found what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane,’ Yayan Sofyan, captain of the patrol vessel, told reporters, according to The Straits Times.

However, the Indonesian search and rescue agency has yet to confirm the discovery.

Ships and aircraft seeking debris and bodies from the Airbus A320-200 widened their search area on Monday to allow for currents more than a week after flight QZ8501 plunged into the water en route from Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.

Indonesia's meteorological agency has said seasonal tropical storms probably contributed to the December 28 crash and the weather has persistently hampered efforts to recover bodies and find the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that should explain why the plane crashed into the sea.

BDST: 1240 HRS, JAN 06, 2015