(CNN) Indonesian searchers battled bad weather Wednesday in their efforts to find more remains from AirAsia Flight QZ8501, a day after the first signs of debris were spotted. 
 
 There was conflicting information about whether any parts of the plane had been located underwater. 
 
 One search official told CNN that he believes sonar equipment has detected wreckage from the plane at the bottom of the sea. 
 
 "I think that that's the case," said Muhammad Hernanto, the head of search and rescue for the city of Surabaya, where Flight 8501 began its journey on Sunday. He was dialing back earlier comments he made to CNN in which he said the sonar equipment had located wreckage from the plane. 
 
 Indonesia's national search and rescue chief said the body of the aircraft hasn't yet been discovered. 
 
 "Until now, we haven't found the plane," Bambang Soelistyo said, according to Indonesia's national news agency Antara. "We've only found seven bodies to this day." 
 
 The grim discovery Tuesday of parts of the missing plane and several bodies on the surface of the sea dealt a heartbreaking blow to families whose loved ones were lost. 
 
 Debris was found 100-200 kilometers (60-120 miles) from the aircraft's last known location over the Java Sea, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said. 
 
 Seven bodies -- four men and three women -- have been recovered from the water so far, Soelistyo said. One of the women found was wearing a flight attendant's uniform, he said. 
 
 Search teams are looking for other bodies and parts of the plane, including its so-called black boxes. Those could help investigators determine what went wrong on the flight, which lost contact with air traffic controllers on Sunday with 162 people aboard. 
 
 Sonar equipment has been searching the bottom of the sea, tens of meters below the water's surface, according to SB Supriyadi, the search agency's director of operations. 
 
 Dozens of ambulances were lined up in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, ready to carry any bodies recovered. 
 
 The search isn't easy; heavy wind and rain, as well as big waves, are hampering efforts, officials said. 
 
 Families' anguish 
 
 As families watched a live news conference Tuesday about the discovery of the debris and saw video of a helicopter lowering a diver to what appeared to be a floating body, some people fainted. Stretchers were brought into the room. 
 
 Family members burst into tears, dabbing their eyes as officials passed out tissues. Some sat with their eyes full of tears, hands covering their mouths or heads buried in their hands. Others had phones jammed against their ears. 
 
 "Everyone became hysterical, especially the mothers. One mother even blacked out," said Maria Endang Wirasmi, whose daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren were on the flight. 
 
 Her husband, Imam Sampurno, said he was relieved the plane had been found. 
 
 "We hope that our children will be saved by a miracle," he said. 
 
 AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters he hoped there was "at least some closure" for families. 
 
 "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501," he tweeted. "On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am." 
 
 Flight 8501 was operated by AirAsia's Indonesian affiliate. 
 
 Military crew spotted an object's shadow 
 
 Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, said the debris was discovered when a crew on a military aircraft spotted the shadow of an object that looked like a plane in the water off the coast of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province on Borneo. 
 
 Further searching found floating objects believed to be the bodies of passengers, and then what appeared to be an emergency exit of the plane. Officials sent other search teams racing to the area. 
 
 Several nations are contributing resources to the effort, including the United States. The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Sampson arrived Tuesday. 
 
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 The USS Fort Worth is also being prepared to deploy from Singapore, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said. It "can be ready to sail in a day or two to get on station and can be there very quickly," he said. 
 
 The United States is also preparing maritime patrol aircraft that could help, he said. 
 
 Search and rescue teams are diverting all their resources to where the debris is, in the Karimata Strait, about 110 nautical miles southwest of the Indonesian city of Pangkalan Bun, AirAsia said. 
 
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 Unanswered questions 
 
 Fernandes said the focus for now must remain on the recovery effort, and no sweeping changes were planned for the airline, which has 1,000 flights a day. "But rest assured," he said, that once the investigation is done, if "there are things we need to change, that we will change it." 
 
 The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control early Sunday shortly after the pilot requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude because of bad weather, according to Indonesian officials. 
 
 Authorities mounted a huge effort to find the aircraft, mapping out a search zone covering 156,000 square kilometers. 
 
 Questions remain about why Flight 8501 lost contact with air traffic control and what happened afterward. 
 
 Some experts have said the aircraft might have experienced an aerodynamic stall because of a lack of speed or from flying at too sharp an angle to get enough lift. 
 
 Analysts have also suggested the pilots might not have been getting information from onboard systems about the plane's position or that rain or hail from thunderstorms in the area could have damaged the engines. 
 
 The key to understanding what happened is likely to be contained in the aircraft's flight recorders. 
 
 "Until we get the black boxes, we won't know what's going on with the engines," said Bill Savage, a former pilot with 30 years of experience. ||||| PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 on Wednesday and sent wreckage drifting far from the crash site, as grieving relatives prayed for strength to endure their losses. 
 
 Indonesians hold candles to pray for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 in Surabaya, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of the jetliner on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives of passengers of AirAsia Flight 8501 pray at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. The first proof of the jet's fate emerged Tuesday in an... (Associated Press) 
 
 An Indonesian girl holds a candle to pray for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 in Surabaya, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. Bad weather hindered efforts to recover victims of the jetliner on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Officers of the National Search And Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) carry a body of one of the victims on board the ill-fated AirAsia Flight 8501, from a helicopter upon arrival at the airport in Pangkalan Bun,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Officers of the National Search And Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) and Indonesian Air Force personnel unload a body of one of the victims on board AirAsia Flight 8501 from a helicopter at the airport in Pangkalan... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives check the documents of passengers on board AirAsia Flight 8501, which will be used for identification purpose, at the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives of passengers of AirAsia Flight 8501 cry after visiting the crisis center at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. The first proof of the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Indonesian soldiers carry a coffin containing a victim of AirAsia Flight 8501 upon arrival at Indonesian Military Air Force base in Surabaya, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. A massive hunt for the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Indonesian soldiers carry coffins containing bodies of victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 upon arrival at Indonesian Military Air Force base in Surabaya, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. A massive hunt... (Associated Press) 
 
 Members of Indonesian National Search And Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) carry the body of a victim of AirAsia Flight 8501 upon arrival at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014.... (Associated Press) 
 
 "Help us, God, to move forward, even though we are surrounded by darkness," the Rev. Philip Mantofa, whose church lost about 40 members in the disaster, told families gathered in a waiting room at the Surabaya airport. 
 
 The massive hunt for 162 people who vanished Sunday aboard the Airbus A320 traveling from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, was severely limited due to heavy rain, wind and thick clouds. Seven bodies, including a flight attendant in her red AirAsia uniform, have been recovered, said Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo. 
 
 Sonar images also identified what appeared to be large parts of the plane, but strong currents were moving the debris. 
 
 Conditions prevented divers from entering the choppy Java Sea, and helicopters were largely grounded. But 18 ships continued to scour the narrowed search area, and four of the seven corpses were recovered Wednesday. Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicted conditions would worsen, with more intense rains, through Friday. 
 
 "It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from yesterday's location," said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the site. "We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches." 
 
 The airliner's disappearance halfway through the two-hour flight triggered an international search involving dozens of planes, ships and helicopters from numerous countries. It is still unclear what brought the plane down. 
 
 Its last communication indicated the pilots were worried about bad weather. They sought permission to climb above threatening clouds but were denied because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the jet disappeared from the radar without issuing a distress signal. 
 
 The aircraft's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, must be recovered before officials can start determining what caused the crash. Items recovered so far include a life jacket, an emergency exit window, children's shoes, a blue suitcase and backpacks filled with food. 
 
 Malaysia-based AirAsia's loss comes on top of the still-unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March with 239 people aboard, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine, which killed all 298 passengers and crew. 
 
 Simple wooden coffins — numbered 001 and 002 — with purple flowers on top contained the first two bodies, which were sent from Pangkalan Bun to Surabaya for autopsies. The two victims were a woman wearing blue jeans and a boy. The other five bodies — three male and two female — will remain on a warship until the weather clears. 
 
 Nearly all the passengers were Indonesian, and a large portion were Christians of Chinese descent. The country is predominantly Muslim, but sizeable pockets of people of other faiths are found throughout the sprawling archipelago. Around 10 percent of those in Surabaya, the nation's second-largest city, are Christian. 
 
 On Wednesday, around 100 relatives gathered for the airport prayer service where Mantofa urged them to hold onto their faith, despite their pain. About 40 members of his Manwar Sharon Church died in the crash. 
 
 "Some things do not make sense to us, but God is bigger than all this," he said. "Our God is not evil." 
 
 Before breaking up, those gathered stood together and sang with their hands reaching upward. "I surrender all. I surrender all," they repeated. "I surrender all to God our savior. I surrender all." 
 
 Many family members had planned to travel to Pangkalan Bun, 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the area where bodies were first spotted, to start identifying their loved ones. However, Surabaya airport general manager Trikora Hardjo later said the trip was canceled after authorities suggested their presence could slow down the operation. 
 
 Instead, some relatives gave blood for DNA tests in Surabaya, where the bodies will be transported, and submitted photos of their loved ones along with identifying information such as tattoos or birthmarks that could help make the process easier. 
 
 Nearly all the passengers from Indonesia were frequent visitors to Singapore, particularly on holidays. 
 
 It was 13-year-old Adrian Fernando's first trip to the city-state and was supposed to be a fun vacation with his aunt, uncle and cousin before school resumed. 
 
 "He is my only son," said his emotional mother Linca Gonimasela, 39, who could not accompany him because she had to work. "At first, he didn't want to go, but later on he was persuaded to join them for the New Year holiday." 
 
 A number of Indonesian cities have opted to cancel or tone down their planned New Year's Eve celebrations. However, a giant street bash was still in the works for the capital, Jakarta. 
 
 In Surabaya, hundreds stood in a drizzle holding candles in a park. 
 
 "Let us pray for the grieving families of those on board the plane," Mayor Tri Rismaharini told the crowd. "Let us pray this will be the last tragedy for Surabaya." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Ng reported from Surabaya, Indonesia. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini, Ali Kotarumalos and Margie Mason in Jakarta contributed to this report. ||||| An international team armed with acoustic equipment arrived at the suspected crash site of the sunken AirAsia jet off Borneo on Friday, bolstering the search for the plane’s black box flight recorders. 
 
 
 
 Bad weather has hampered the search, preventing divers from looking for the wreck of the Airbus A320-200, which was carrying 162 people when it crashed on Sunday en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. 
 
 Officials said 30 bodies have been recovered so far. 
 
 Rear Marshal Henry Bambang Soelistyo, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, said the search would be stepped up as long as the weather allowed. 
 
 “We will focus on underwater detection,” said Soelistyo, adding that ships from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the US had been on the scene from before dawn Friday to try to pinpoint the wreckage and the all-important black boxes the flight data and cockpit voice recorders. 
 
 Sorry, your browser is unable to play this video. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Indonesian search officials said that 30 bodies have been recovered so far. 
 
 Nine planes, many with metal detectors, were also scouring a 13,500 square kilometre (8,380 square mile) area off Pangkalan Bun, the closest town on Borneo island to the search area. Two Japanese ships with three helicopters are on their way to the area, Soelistyo said. 
 
 France’s BEA crash investigation agency, which attends the crashes of all Airbus planes, was also on the scene with two hydrophones, or underwater acoustic detection devices. 
 
 But Soelistyo said bad weather, which has hindered the search for the last several days, was set to continue with forecasts of rain, strong winds and waves up to 4m high. The strong sea currents have kept debris moving. 
 
 The Indonesian-led search for the wreck of Flight QZ8501 is centred in the northern Java Sea, close to the Karimata Strait, where search teams have recovered the bodies and pieces of the plane. Previous reports of a sonar image showing the fuselage in the water have not been confirmed, officials said. 
 
 
 
 Officials earlier said it may take up to a week to find the black boxes, which investigators hope will reveal the sequence of events in the cockpit and in the heavily computerised jet’s systems. The BEA team attends the crashes of all Airbus planes. 
 
 Even in bad weather, the search for the AirAsia jet is unlikely to be as technologically challenging as the two-year search for an Air France jet that crashed into deep Atlantic waters in 2009 or the so far fruitless search for Malaysian Flight 370 which disappeared last year. 
 
 Given Flight QZ8501 crashed in shallow seas, experts say finding the boxes should not be difficult if the beacons, with a range of 2,000 to 3,000 metres (6,560 to 9,800 ft), are working. 
 
 Tatang Kurniadim, the head of Indonesia’s National Committee for Transportation Safety, said late Thursday that rescuers would use five ping locators - two from Indonesia, two from Singapore and one from Britain - once bad weather had eased and the waters had calmed as expected within five days. 
 
 Investigators are working on a theory that the plane stalled as it climbed steeply to avoid a storm about 40 minutes into the flight. 
 
 The bodies recovered so far are being taken in numbered coffins to Surabaya, where relatives of the victims have gathered, for identification. Authorities have been collecting DNA from relatives to help identify the bodies. The first funeral for one of the crash victims was held on Thursday, and on Friday officials said the remains of three more had been identified, including a flight attendant. 
 
 Most of those on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found.
– A day after debris was first spotted, Indonesian searchers have confirmed that sonar equipment has detected wreckage from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 at the bottom of the sea—though whether the plane is in one piece or broken up remains to be seen, reports CNN. The wreckage was found between 60 and 120 miles from the plane's last known location over the Java Sea, and the bodies of six more men and women—one of whom was wearing a flight attendant's uniform—had been recovered as of late yesterday, officials said. Other news: Though the wreckage has been located, victims' grieving families are growing frustrated with the recovery and identification process, reports Sky News. "I have so many precious memories that are gone," says one woman who lost five family members. "But I cannot start to grieve properly until we can hold proper funerals." AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters he hoped that the families would have "at least some closure." In spite of heavy winds, rain, and 6-foot waves, searchers are continuing to look for more bodies and plane parts. But the weather is causing the wreckage to drift—by a lot, reports the AP. "It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 30 miles from yesterday's location," says the search and rescue coordinator on Borneo island in the closest town to the site. "We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches."