An Australian Orion aircraft detected suspicious objects reportedly belonging to Air Asia Flight QZ 8501 that disappeared early on Sunday on its way from Indonesia to Singapore in a 2 1/2-hour flight. Contact was lost with the plane, carrying 162 people, close to Nangka island that is 1,120 kms from the location where the plane lost contact.

Jakarta’s Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto said that he was uncertain whether the objects were part of the missing AirAsia plane. Earlier, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency Chief Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference on Monday morning that he hypothesized that the plane is at the bottom of the sea.

Indonesian Captain Iriyanto, piloting the aircraft, had requested to ascend from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid clouds but this was denied. Experts believe that the plane may have crashed because of adverse weather conditions as meteorologists point to satellite imagery that shows a huge storm with a massive amount of rainfall that quickly disappeared.

The waters of the Java Sea are shallow so the jetliner’s location should be straightforward.