Special Report: Indonesian passenger plane missing

    BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A body, the horizontal tail stabilizer from the missing Indonesian Adam Air airliner, and a flotilla of airplane wreckage was found Thursday floating about 300 meters from a beach near the port of Pare-Pare city in southwest Sulawesi, according to an El Shinta radio report.

    The major breakthrough in the 11-day search for the missing aircraft came after a fisherman discovered a piece of the tail of a Boeing 737-400 in his net. He reported the discovery to authorities early on Thursday.

    The body of an Asian woman in her 30s, with short dark hair, a green shirt and brown trousers, was discovered floating nearby, but authorities said the woman had yet to be identified as a passenger.

Indonesia's Search and Rescue service officers hold up a part of the tail of the missing Adam Air passenger jet during a press conference in Makassar, on Sulawesi island, Jan. 11, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    Nine other pieces of the aircraft, including passengers' seats and life jackets, had also been found floating nearby.

    Air Marshal Eddy Suyanto said a serial number on the one-meter-long white piece of the tail matched those from the missing Adam Air plane.

    "The finding is part of the Adam Air airplane. It is the right horizontal tail stabilizer," he told reporters.

    The ageing Adam Air jet, carrying 96 passengers, including three Americans, and six crew, fell off radar midway through its flight from Surabaya, east Java, to Manado, northwest Sulawesi on New Year's Day.

    Pare-Pare is 150 kilometers from the location in the Makassar Strait where searchers were focusing their investigation on three metal objects located 1,000 meters underwater.

    The Indonesian naval vessel Fatahillah detected the large metal objects on the sea bed in the Makassar Strait three days ago, and U.S. naval oceanographic survey ship Mary Sears steamed to the site to investigate further.

    However, the Indonesian Marine and Fishery Department suggested the metal objects could instead be instruments deployed to study the underwater sea current.

    For bereaved relatives, the discovery is the first real evidence of what happened to their loved ones.

    Lince Tumurang, the aunt of one of the victims, Yuneke, said she heard news of the discovery on Thursday morning.

    "The family has given up hope of finding her alive," she told AAP. "If she's already dead, then at least we could bring back her dead body. This discovery, I think it is good. It's a bright spot for the searchers, now they don't have to search in such a wide area."

    President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for an investigation into the accident, and a wider study of the country's transport system.

    Transport safety and consumer groups have demanded stricter aviation laws, saying no airline had ever been prosecuted over safety breaches in Indonesia despite a string of aviation mishaps since the industry was deregulated in the 1990s.

    Consumer groups are preparing to launch two civil suits against Adam Air, alleging the airline was negligent in focusing on offering cheaper fares ahead of safety.

    (Agencies)