The wreckage of AirAsia’s missing Airbus passenger jet had in fact been discovered more than 36 hours earlier when Mohammed Taha, a 38-year-old fisherman, saw red and white metal objects in the water but dismissed them as ocean junk.
Only when Mr Taha returned to his village on Monday night did he understand the grim significance of what he had seen and report it to police. An aerial search was launched at first light and by 8am, that unexplained debris had been found.
First came reports that objects resembling a plane’s door and emergency exit had been spotted, then that a plane-shaped “shadow” had been seen under the surface of the water.
Finally came the macabre news that bodies had also been sighted, in waters about 80 to 100 feet deep, some six miles from Flight QZ8501’s last known location.
AirAsia Flight QZ8501: relatives plunged into mourning as graphic images of bodies confirm fate - Telegraph
It was only 6 miles from the airplane's last known location and the search authorities only searched there because a fisherman made a report?
This does not sound like a competent search organization--where a standard search process would start at the last known location and expand outward. [I had been expecting that the airplane would be found something like 50+ miles away--as one can understand it takes a long time to search large areas]