“There was a man swaying on the waves. After I looked at the photo carefully on my laptop, I understood it was a human body,” a lieutenant of the Indonesian Air Force told local media.

Indonesian officials coming off a helicopter on Borneo island Tuesday said they have recovered several bodies floating in waters near where the missing AirAsia flight was last seen. Images on local television showed at least one bloated corpse.

The bodies, swollen but intact, were brought to an Indonesian navy ship, National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi told reporters in the nearest town, Pangkalan Bun. The corpses did not have life jackets on.

As family members of the plane's passengers sat together in a waiting room at the Surabaya airport, they watched the graphic details on television. Many screamed and wailed uncontrollably, breaking down into tears while they squeezed each other. One middle-aged man collapsed and was rushed from the room on a stretcher.

The discovery came after several pieces of red, white and black debris were spotted in the Java Sea near Borneo island.

Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia, expressed his condolences to the relatives of those on the flight shortly after Tuesday's search reports. (KH)