Crash victim sends selfie from doomed AirAsia jet

Hendra Gunawan Syawal (rear, right) on the jet an hour before the crash. Picture / AFP

The family of a victim of the AirAsia crash learned of their loved one's fate after being sent a selfie he featured in, taken on board flight QZ8501 as it prepared for takeoff.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's navy said it has found an object that was "probably" the tail of the missing plane, raising hopes that the remaining bodies and the plane's black box will soon be recovered.

Hendra Gunawan Syawal, 23, had posted the photograph with three friends on the Airbus A320 just an hour before it plunged into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board.

Yunita Syawal, who had already heard news of the flight's disappearance when she was sent the image of her brother, had not known he was due to fly that day. A call to her parents confirmed her worst fears. "I immediately flew to Surabaya," she said. Six days later, she helped identify his body.

"Now we have seen his body, we know he's gone for sure."

Colonel Yayan Sofyan, a patrol boat captain, said the navy had found a section of aircraft that resembled the tail. "We found what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane."

Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, said the object was "suspected" of being the tail but was yet to be confirmed.

Indonesia's Government has suspended the air traffic controllers who oversaw the flight and ordered all pilots to undergo pre-flight briefings on handling emergencies.

Ignatius Jonan, Indonesia's Transport Minister, has accused AirAsia of operating the flight on Sundays without permission, while acting head of air transport Djoko Murjatmodjo has indicated airport officials may have acted illegally.

The search has been hampered by continued heavy weather off Borneo's southern coast.

Five large objects have been picked up by sonar scans of the ocean floor in the search zone but the largest was found to be a shipwreck. No pings have yet been detected from the plane's black box locator beacon.