Inside the twisted fuselage of AirAsia flight QZ8501: Eerie video shows divers searching through the wreckage of the doomed jet

• Search and rescue teams are hopeful they have located the black box
• Indonesian authorities have reported detecting 'pings' from the recorder
• Footage has emerged of divers searching inside AirAsia jet's wreckage
• Video shows how difficult the working conditions are with little visibility
• Search teams have found the plane's tail at the bottom of the Java Sea
• The black box, which will reveal why the crash happened, is in the jet's tail
• Authorities plan to use 'lifting balloons' to raise the tail from the sea floor
• AirAsia flight 8501 crashed on December 28, killing all 168 people onboard

By Heather Mcnab for Daily Mail Australia Follow @@heddabo and Louise Cheer Follow @@Louise_Cheer and Nelson Groom

Published: 21:55 EST, 8 January 2015 | Updated: 23:11 EST, 8 January 2015

New footage has emerged showing Indonesian military divers investigating the submerged tail of doomed AirAsia flight 8501, as search and rescue teams are hopeful that the black box from the plane's wreckage has been located.

Having located the tail of the plane on Thursday, search teams began pressing ahead with their efforts to find the black box and retrieve bodies from the wreckage, and on Friday afternoon reported detecting 'pings' from the flight data recorder.

Santoso Sayogo, an investigator at the National Transportation Safety Committee, said that while divers needed to confirm the alerts were from the black box, 'we have our fingers crossed'.

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New footage has emerged showing Indonesian military divers investigating the tail of AirAsia flight 8501

'We received an update from the field that the pinger locator already detected pings,' Mr Sayago told Reuters.

'We have our fingers crossed it is the black box. Divers need to confirm,' he said.

Indonesian authorities have warned that the black box, which is located in the tail in the Airbus A320-200, may have become separated during the crash.

'Unfortunately it seems it's off from the tail. But the divers need to confirm the position,' Mr Sayago said.

Footage released by Indonesian authorities shows divers surrounding the submerged wreck, shining torches into the badly damaged hull, 30 metres under the surface of the Java Sea.

The flight data recorder, or black box, which is located in the back end of the plane, could prove crucial to determining the cause of the December 28 crash that killed all 168 people on board.

Lifting balloons were loaded onto helicopters in preparation of recovery efforts to lift the tail out of the Java Sea, despite worries that the black box may have been separated from the tail during the crash.

The footage was captured by the divers despite poor weather and murky water which has been hampering recovery efforts.

The footage shows elite divers holding a box to the exterior of the tail, which still has the identifying markers 'PK' plane on its side.

An Indonesian Armed Forces Commander confirmed that a recovery of the tail is in progress, after signals from the black box, which only has 30 days of battery life, were detected yesterday.

The divers hop to locate the flight data recorder and retrieving more bodies of the crash's victims

Footage released by Indonesian authorities shows divers surrounding the submerged wreck of the tail

Divers are shown shining torches into the badly damaged hull, 30 meters under the waters of the Java Sea

Navy ships USS Sampson and USS Fort Worth have deployed helicopters and sonar devices into the Java Sea to aid the recovery operation off the coast of the Indonesian island of Borneo.

Only 43 bodies have been retrieved so far, as monsoon rains and winds have caused choppy sea conditions and blinding silt from river run-off, reducing visibility underwater and preventing the removal of large pieces of the wreckage.

Many of the other passengers are believed to be inside the wreckage of the plane's main cabin, which has not been located, due to strong currents moving debris around.

At two weeks, most corpses will sink, said Anton Castilani, head of Indonesia's disaster identification victim unit, and there are already signs of serious decomposition.

'Divers have reached the tail part but ... the visibility was below one metre so they only managed to retrieve various debris,' said Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency.

'Now we are waiting for the speed of the current to ease. If it gets calmer later, they will go back to do another dive to determine whether the black boxes remained in the tail or were detached,' Mr Soelistyo said on Thursday.

Divers travelled by rubber boat from the KRI Banda Aceh warship that was being stationed close to the site of tail wreckage

Indonesian navy divers arrive on their inflatable boats after conducting operations to lift the plane's tail

Retrieval experts are hoping to lift the tail on Friday if weather conditions are fine

Divers travelled by rubber boat from the KRI Banda Aceh warship that was being stationed close to the site of tail wreckage, which Mr Soelistyo said would be lifted off the seabed by retrieval experts on Friday if weather permitted.

Lieutenant. Edy Tirtayasa, commander of Indonesia's navy rescue team, told Channel News Asia they planned to send two contingents to the plane.

'We are going to send down one observation team to take photos. Then two teams will do the recovery process -- to recover bodies if there are any,' he said.

'If not, they will recover the black box for investigation and then other debris from the aircraft, he said.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Indroyono Soesilo told reporters the black box would be analysed by experts in Indonesia when it was located

Lieutenant. Edy Tirtayasa, commander of Indonesia's navy rescue team, told Channel News Asia they planned to send two contingents to the plane

The flight data recorder, or black box, could prove crucial to determining the cause of the December 28 crash that killed all 168 people on board

Divers travelled by rubber boat to the KRI Banda Aceh warship that was stationed near the tail's wreckage

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Indroyono Soesilo told reporters the black box would be analysed by experts in Indonesia when it was located.

It will provide essential information about the plane along with final conversations between the captain and co-pilot, despite the Indonesian meteorological agency indicating that weather was the 'triggering factor' of the crash, with ice likely damaging the engines of the Airbus A320-200.

Five other big objects have been found on the floor of the ocean, though no visual confirmation has been obtained yet. Smaller pieces of the plane, such as seats and an emergency door, have been collected from the surface.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's chief executive officer, welcomed the news.

Navy personnel carry air balloons into a NC212 aircraft at Juanda airbase

Inclement weather has hampered recovery efforts by Indonesian and international personnel

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said that the airline's priority was the recover the bodies of the victims

If it is the right part of the tail section, he tweeted, then the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, 'should be there'.

He said the airline's priority still is to recover all the bodies 'to ease the pain of our families'.

Families of the victims whose bodies have been recovered held funeral ceremonies on Thursday to lay their loved ones to rest.

Family members and friends buried their bodies and lay flowers over the graves, bringing photos of the victims to lay at memorial sites.

Rescuers carry a coffin containing the body of a victim, after AirAsia announced families of the victims will be offered $US100,000 in compensation by the airline

Family members held funerals for victims of the crash on Thursday

Victims' families have been offered $US100,000 after they were initially offered $US24,000 byAirAsia

Relatives and friends pray during the funeral ceremony of crash victim Lim Yan Koen

The recovery operation comes as news that the families of the victims of the flight will be offered $US100,000 in compensation by the airline.

An offer of $US24,000 was presented to family members, who were given a draft letter from AirAsia, which detailed its initial compensation deal, CNN reported.

Family members have been left confused about the letter's wording and raising issue with the airline approaching families separately in relation to compensation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

But Indonesia AirAsia's director of safety and security defended the isolated discussions to The Strait Times on Tuesday, saying: 'We respect that [some] families are still hoping to see that their relatives survived, so we offered [compensation first] to those whose family members have been identified'.

On Wednesday, searchers looking for the plane say they believe they have found the aircraft's tail

Along with the tail, the fuselage is thought to be with it, off the coast of the Indonesian island of Borneo

The black box is thought to be inside the tail. It will help shed some light on the last moments of the flight before it crashed

Captain Raden Achmad Sadikin added the airlines would be compensating families in line with Indonesian policy.

According to the regulatory body that is responsible for Indonesia's finance sector, agencies that insure airlines were liable to give 1.25 billion rupiah for every one of the 155 passengers including 315 million rupiah to 750 million rupiah for the 25 passengers who bought flight insurance.

Just before losing contact, the pilot told air traffic control he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic. No distress signal was issued.

Indonesina Sea and Coast Guards display recovered seats from the AirAsia flight QZ8501 on Tuesday

National Search and Rescue Agency personnel carry wrecked seats from the AirAsia plane to land

Five other big objects have been found on the floor of the ocean, though no visual confirmation has been obtained yet

Indonesina Sea and Coast Guards display recovered seats from the AirAsia flight QZ8501 on Tuesday

National Search and Rescue Agency personnel carry wrecked seats from the AirAsia plane to land

Five other big objects have been found on the floor of the ocean, though no visual confirmation has been obtained yet