Divers spot tail of missing AirAsia plane in Java Sea, first confirmed sighting of wreckage

Russian rescuers return after a search operation with an Indonesian Air Force helicopter for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. At least two divers plunged into the choppy waters early Wednesday during a break in the bad weather to search for two large objects suspected of being chunks of the fuselage of the AirAsia plane that crashed more than one week ago, an Indonesian official said. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) (The Associated Press)

Members of the National Search and Rescue Agency carry coffins containing bodies of the victims aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 to transfer to Surabaya, at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. At least two divers plunged into the choppy waters early Wednesday during a break in the bad weather to search for two large objects suspected of being chunks of the fuselage of the AirAsia plane that crashed more than one week ago, an Indonesian official said. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) (The Associated Press)

Indonesia's search and rescue chief says divers and an unmanned underwater vehicle have spotted the tail of the missing AirAsia plane in the Java Sea, the first confirmed sighting of any wreckage 11 days after Flight 8501 disappeared with 162 people on board.

Henry Bambang Soelistyo told reporters Wednesday that searchers were able to get a photograph of the debris.

The find is particularly important because the all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, are located in the aircraft's tail.

Soelistyo says the top priority remains recovering bodies and the black boxes. So far, 40 corpses have been found.