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.

Indonesia's search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo told reporters 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.

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