Bad weather today hampered the recovery of scores of bodies and the wreckage of the AirAsia plane that drifted away from the crash site due to strong tides in the Java Sea off Indonesia after sonar images identified what appeared to be large parts of the jet.

The massive hunt for the 162 people on board the Singapore-bound AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that went missing on Sunday after taking off from Surabaya, Indonesia, was severely limited due to heavy rain, wind and thick clouds.

Seven bodies, including that of a woman flight attendant still wearing her AirAsia uniform, have been recovered, said Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo.

Divers were to be deployed to search for bodies and for the plane's "black box" flight recorders but officials said heavy rain, strong winds and waves of up to 3 metres had forced them to suspend the operation.