However, no further information about the oil slicks or a possible connection to the AirAsia plane crash has been made.
The missing AirAsia plane, flying to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia, with 155 people and seven crew members on board, lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday morning.
The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency said the plane requested permission to change both its course and its flight altitude due to weather conditions. The Airbus received permission to bypass the storm area but was denied permission to change flight altitude due to other planes in the area. The Indonesian Transportation Ministry has not confirmed this information.
The missing plane had not transmitted any distress signal before disappearing from radar.