The tail section of the doomed Air Asia QZ8501 flight has been recovered from the sea bed nearly two weeks after the plane crashed into the Java Sea.
The tail was brought to the surface on Saturday, though the entire recovery operation is still in process, according to Channel News Asia.
Floating balloons were used to lift the tail, which is said to be the biggest part of the crashed plane recovered so far.
The tail section was located a few days ago, raising hopes of accessing the plane's black box.
The tail section is where the black box of the plane is fitted, though in this case, officials believe the voice recorder may have separated from the tail and could be buried in the sea bed.
On Friday, pings from the black box were also detected, in one of the most significant developments that will aid in understanding what caused the plane to crash.
Divers also received 'faint signals' from the black box on Saturday.
BREAKING: Tail of crashed #AirAsia flight #QZ8501 has been brought to the surface pic.twitter.com/UkNE1j1ceR
— Jonny Hallam (@Jonny_Hallam) January 10, 2015
