Jakarta, Dec 30 (IANS): Indonesia's transport ministry Tuesday confirmed that wreckage discovered in Java Sea province was of the missing AirAsia plane QZ8501.

"It has been confirmed that it is debris from an aircraft bearing red and white colours," Indonesia's acting director general of transportation, Djoko Murjatmodjo said.

Earlier in the day, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency reported that 10 pieces of debris were seen in the search area, where the Airbus A320-200 with 162 on board was last located, before it disappeared from the radar screen, 42 minutes after it took off from Surabaya in Indonesia's East Java province, The Jakarta Post reported.

"The recovery process will now be centred in the debris' location in coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency," he said.

An agency spokesman said a CN maritime patrol aircraft of Indonesian Air Force first discovered the debris during a search operation.

The location of the debris matched information from two fishermen in Pangkalan Bun, who said that they heard a thud and saw explosions Sunday morning, the spokesman said.

"We are ordering two members of the team to retrieve the debris using hoists," the spokesman added.