The Federal Government has taken the unprecedented step of banning its staff from flying Lion Air and its subsidiaries as the grim task of recovering the 189 bodies from flight JT610 continue.

Indonesian authorities have recovered 26 bodies and hundreds of pieces of personal effects from the crash site 15km off the Jakarta coast.

Divers were last night continuing to search for victims and and had deployed high-tech equipment to find the plane’s data recorders.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s ban includes Batik Air and Wings Air but not joint venture airline Malindo.

Australian engineers' theory on crash cause

Batik Air operates from Perth to Bali and Malindo from Perth to Kuala Lumpur.

DFAT said the ban would remain until the cause of the accident was known. It is understood DFAT did not consult with Australia’s aviation safety watchdog, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Indonesian crash investigators are concentrating on the technical problems experienced by the same plane on its previous flight from Denpasar Airport to Jakarta on Sunday.

Moments after take-off from Bali, the pilots encountered significant irregularities in their airspeed and altitude data and the aircraft’s speed and altitude changed rapidly but then stabilised and the flight continued.

Conchita Caroline, an Indonesian television presenter who was on that flight, said that at the beginning of the journey there were irregularities. “As the plane readied for take-off, the engine seemed to die several times,” she said.

Camera Icon Personal items retrieved from the Lion Air flight JT610 wreckage. Credit: Getty Images

After a delay, passengers were removed from the plane. Ms Caroline said passengers were confused and staff dismissed her questions. The flight departed later.

Passenger Alon Soetanto told TVOne that the plane dropped suddenly several times in the first few minutes of the flight. “About three to eight minutes after it took off, I felt like the plane was losing power and unable to rise,” he said. “That happened several times during the flight.

“We felt like in a roller-coaster. Some passengers began to panic and vomit.”

Mr Soetanto’s account is consistent with data from flight-tracking sites that show erratic speed, altitude and direction in the minutes after the plane got airborne before crashing on Monday.

The problems with the earlier flight were reported and Lion Air said they were fixed.