An Indonesian navy ship searching for a commercial airliner detected a large undersea object off the west coast of Sulawesi today.
The Boeing 737-400 operated by Indonesian budget carrier Adam Air went missing in bad weather a week ago after its pilot reported crosswinds and asked for safe coordinates from the airport in Makassar, Sulawesi island's largest city.
"We suspect that it [the object] was a metal object 1,050 metres under the sea off Mamuju. It could not be confirmed yet whether it was the Adam Air plane," a spokesman of the navy's Eastern Fleet, told Jakarta-based Radio Elshinta.
Mamuju is a seaside town in West Sulawesi province.
A US ship with sonar capability and the ability to detect metal underwater, will arrive tomorrow to join the search.
Indonesian officials mistakenly said the plane had been spotted in Sulawesi's mountains last week when accounts from a local village were relayed to the highest level without checks.
The plane heading for North Sulawesi provincial capital Manado carried 96 passengers and six crew.