DHAKA: The tail of an AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea was lifted to the surface using floating balloons on Saturday, but apparently without the crucial black box recorders.

Indonesian authorities said, reports The Straits Times.

The tail, which is where the black box data recorders were kept, was found in the seabed 30 metres below the surface and was finally lifted on to a vessel on Saturday using giant floating balloons and a crane.

‘We have lifted the tail onto the ship. It’s red and white and a big part of the AirAsia logo can be seen,’ Navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir told the media.

On board the KRI Banda Aceh that is one of the Indonesian Navy vessels involved in the search effort, sailors cheered as the tail first emerged at the surface, according to a media photographer on board.

Flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people, went missing in stormy weather on December 28 as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, and all aboard died.

BDST: 2022 HRS, JAN 10, 2015

** Tail of plane lifted off seabed