1st LD Writethru: Indonesia says tail for AirAsia jet had been found

Indonesia's search and rescue team has located the tail for the crashed AirAsia plane underwater, an official in charge said here Wednesday.

"We have successfully obtained part of the plane that has been our target. The tail portion has been confirmed found," search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference.

The AirAsia Airbus A320-200 vanished from radar screens on Dec. 28 enroute from Indonesia's second-largest city Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.

The discovery on the seabed is considered as a major breakthrough in the search as the tail usually houses the black boxes -- the flight data and voice recorders, crucial to identify the cause of a crash.

So far, 39 bodies have been recovered and five large parts believed to be from the jet have been detected as the search operation is hindered by unfavorable sea conditions.

Indonesia's meteorological agency said earlier that the weather was the "triggering factor" in the crash of the plane as icing might have damaged the engine. Endi