A crew member of Indonesian Navy CN-235 airplane looks out of the window during a search operation for the missing AirAsia flight 8501 over the waters off Bangka Island, Indonesia. (Associated Press)
A sonar image showing a large, dark object under the sea was presumed to be the missing AirAsia plane, an official with Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Wednesday.
"It's about 30-50 metres under water," said the official, Hernanto.
Crews are standing by to collect and identify bodies from the plane that crashed on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore.
"We are praying it is the plane so the evacuation can be done quickly," Hernanto said.
© Thomson Reuters 2014