Rescuers with heavy machinery searched a shattered residential neighbourhood for any survivors from an Indonesian air force transport plane that crashed shortly after takeoff and killed more than 70 people.

More ships loaded with sensitive equipment have arrived to search for the fuselage of AirAsia Flight 8501 and more than 150 people still missing, five days after the aircraft crashed into the sea.

Objects have been spotted in the sea by a search plane hunting for a missing AirAsia jet, an Indonesian official has said.