Relatives of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ8501 broke down in grief on Tuesday evening after images of floating bodies near the area where the plane disappeared were seen on television.

Families of the missing who were gathered at a crisis center in Surabaya, Indonesia wailed with heads buried in their hands while several people who lost consciousness due to grief were taken to hospital.

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Rescuers searching for the AirAsia plane with 155 passengers and 7 crew on board fished out debris and bodies from waters near the Borneo coast. A navy spokesman revealed oxygen tanks, a plane door and a body were pulled out from the sea and taken away in a helicopter for tests.

Indonesian navy officials said about 40 bodies had also been pulled out from the sea while the missing aircraft has yet to be found.

The Indonesia AirAsia flight, a six-year-old Airbus A320-200, disappeared early on Sunday barely an hour into a flight from Surabaya in Indonesia's east Java to Singapore.

AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes said in a tweet that on behalf of his airline, he extended condolences to families of all lost passenger and crew. He stressed that words cannot express how sorry he was.

The airline has invited families of the ill-fated flight's passengers to Surabaya, where a team of care providers will tend to each family's needs.

Indonesian couple Yohannes and his wife had been waiting for word on the fate of a brother and his two children who took the flight.

Tanus Herumanto and the children were supposed to visit a son in Singapore, who traveled to Surabaya on Monday after the plane went missing. Yohannes said the boy could not help but cry every time he sees the news.

Surabaya mayor Tri Rismaharini urged relatives to be strong, telling them the passengers were not "ours," they belong to God.

The AirAsia flight, which failed to send a distress signal, went missing after its pilot asked air traffic controllers to fly higher to veer away from bad weather, officials said.

TagsAirAsia, 8501, missing plane, Java Sea, Indonesia, bodies found