AKIPRESS.COM - Indonesian officials have expanded their search area as the hunt for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 goes on, reports BBC.

The flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore crashed into the sea on 28 December - 37 bodies have been recovered out of 162 people on board.

Officials believe they may have located the tail, which holds the "black boxes", and parts from the fuselage.

But poor weather has repeatedly delayed efforts to reach and identify the debris and bring it to land.

It is still not known what caused the crash and despite a massive search the main part of the plane has not been found.

Speaking in Jakarta on Tuesday, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency Henry Bambang Soelistyo said teams were "adding to and expanding the priority search area" as of Tuesday.

The weather had improved, he said, so underwater devices had been deployed, while divers had been able to dive lower into the search area.