JAKARTA - The body of a St Andrew's Junior College (SAJC) student on board the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501 was identified on Wednesday, Detik News reported.

Indonesian Nico Giovanni, 18, who holds a Singapore Ministry of Education scholarship, had studied at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and recently completed his first year at the junior college.

His identification came as the tail of flight QZ8501 has been found on the sea bed about 30km from the plane's last known location, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said, a breakthrough that investigators hope will lead to the crucial black box recorders.

Flight QZ8501 vanished from radar screens over the northern Java Sea on Dec 28, less than half-way into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors among the 162 people on board.

A friend, who wanted to be known only as Michael, said that Nico had come to Singapore to pursue his studies and was enrolled at the Secondary 3 level at ACS (I).

"Nico is very reserved. He is hard-working and respectful," he said, adding that the Indonesian teen is good at maths and science.

The Straits Times understands that Nico was travelling with his parents and a brother. His sister, who was not with them, is believed to be waiting for her family at Changi Airport's Terminal 2.

Nico's sister Chiara Natasha, 15, said she could not believe her whole family may have died.

Her parents, older brother and younger brother had been on their way from their home in Surabaya to visit her in Singapore.

She started attending a foundational English course at the Methodist Girls' School in October and will start Secondary 3 this year.

She said she decided to further her studies in Singapore on the advice of her older brother Nico.