Indonesian officials have confirmed that debris found off the coast of the island of Borneo, including luggage, life vests and bodies, is from AirAsia flight QZ8501, which went missing early on Sunday.

The debris was located in the Karimata Strait in South East Belitung, near the last captured radar message from the missing jet. AirAsia Indonesia, in a post on its Facebook page, also said the debris was "indeed" from the plane.

The country's search and rescue agency confirmed to NBC that at least six corpses had been found, three of which had been recovered.

The news agency AFP said that a "shadow" resembling a plane had been spotted on the seabed in the same area. Indonesian television has shown footage of the recovery attempts by rescue teams and has broadcast images of objects floating in the sea.

Read MoreAirAsia: shallow seas don't mean an easy search

Tony Fernandes, the CEO of AirAsia, was one of the first to react to the news saying that his heart was "filled with sadness", and offered his condolences to the families involved.

"I am rushing to Surabaya. Whatever we can do at AirAsia we will be doing," he said on the social media site Twitter, shortly after the news. "Words cannot express how sorry I am."



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Search and rescue operations are still in progress, according to a Facebook post by the airline at 11:40 a.m. GMT, and further investigations into the debris found at the location are ongoing.



The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, conducted a short press conference after darkness fell in the city Surabaya. He told reporters that efforts on Wednesday would be to locate the rest of the bodies and thanked other Asian nations for their assistance, according to Dow Jones.

