Several bodies have been found floating in the sea near where a missing AirAsia flight was last seen, Indonesian officials have said.
The bodies, seen from a helicopter in Pangkalan Bun, were taken to an Indonesian navy ship.
Earlier, an Indonesia National Search and Rescue spokesman said several pieces of debris seen floating off Borneo might be linked to the missing Flight 8501.
Yusuf Latif said an Indonesian military aircraft saw white, red and black objects, including what appeared to be a life jacket, off the coast, about 105 miles (169km) south of Pangkalan Bun.
The plane with 162 people on board disappeared on Sunday on its way from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore after encountering storm clouds.
A massive international search effort has been launched since Flight 8501 disappeared from radar over the Java Sea near Belitung island.
The United States announced it was sending the USS Sampson destroyer, joining at least 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters in the search for the jet, said Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo.
A Chinese frigate was also on the way, while Singapore said it was sending two underwater beacon detectors to try to detect pings from the plane’s all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders.
Malaysia, Australia and Thailand also are involved in the search, and area fishermen were also helping.
The plane vanished halfway into what should have been a two-hour hop.
The Airbus A320-200 is believed to have crashed into Indonesia’s Java Sea, a busy shipping lane where water on average is only 150ft (46m)