Adam Air jetliner debris found in the sea off Sulawesi

Indonesian fishermen found the debris of the Adam Air Boeing 737 jetliner that went off radar screens 10 days ago in stormy weather. The jetliner was carrying 102 people on board. The wreckage was found in the sea, some of the parts were washed ashore.

A one-meter (yard) section of tail, the back of a seat and other debris were the first pieces of wreckage to be recovered from the Boeing 737, which vanished without a trace on New Year's Day, baffling crash investigators and sparking a massive land and sea search.

Eddy Suyanto, the head of search and rescue operations, said the serial number on the tail - found 300 meters off the western coast of Sulawesi Island - confirmed it was part of Adam Air Flight KI-574.

No survivors or bodies confirmed as being on the aircraft have been found, Suyanto said.

Metro TV broadcast the corpse of a woman washed up close to where the debris was found, but quoted a doctor as saying that its condition indicated it had been in the water for just five days.

Local police chief Gatot Haryanto told Metro the plane parts recovered Thursday were spread over a 400 meter radius. Scores of officers, fishermen and people living on the coast were looking for more debris.

The jetliner left Java island for the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado on Jan. 1. The pilot twice changed course after battling 130 kph (80 mph) winds but did not issue a mayday or report technical difficulties before dropping off the radar halfway as it approached the western coast of Sulawesi.

With no emergency location signal to guide more than 3,600 soldiers, police and volunteers searching in Sulawesi's dense jungles and surrounding seas, teams have fanned out over a nearly 80,000-square-kilometer (30,000-square-mile) area.

A day after the plane's disappearance, authorities falsely reported finding its wreckage along with 12 survivors in a remote mountainous district on Sulawesi, outraging relatives of those on board.

News that debris had been found gave a comfort to one relative on Thursday.

"I cried when I heard, but I am now relieved," said Rosmala

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