The search for flight recorders from AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 has moved underwater with the arrival of specialist equipment from France.

A team will use the sensitive acoustic equipment to listen for signals from the ‘black box’ recorders.

The AirAsia Airbus A320-200 was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore on Sunday with 162 people on board when it crashed into the Java Sea.

No survivors have been found and the cause of the crash remains unknown.

Some 22 bodies have so far been pulled from the sea, while small parts of the wrecked plane have been located.

The fuselage of the aircraft is still missing, however, along with the majority of the passengers’ bodies.

Bad weather is being investigated as the cause of the presumed crash, with the pilot requesting to air traffic controllers to gain altitude in the moments before the plane’s disappearance from radar.

It has been reported a steep climb following this request may have seen the aircraft stall.