AirAsia flight QZ8501 most likely “experienced an explosion” in the air before it hit the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board, an investigator has said.

National Search and Rescue Agency operations coordinator Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi said the the left side of the plane seemed to have disintegrated, according to a South China Morning Post report.

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“My analysis is, based on the wreckage found and other findings, the plane experienced an explosion before it hit the water,” Mr Supriyadi told reporters.

“The cabin was pressurised and before the pressure of the cabin could be adjusted, it went down – boom. That explosion was heard in the area.”

Divers have recovered the black box flight data recorder from the wreckage, but the cockpit voice recorder is yet to be recovered.

The flight’s precise last moments will not be known until the recorders are reviewed.

Other investigators have denied the claims of Mr Supriyadi.

National Transport Committee investigator Santoso Sayogo said there was “no data to support that kind of theory”.

The flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore was flying in stormy conditions when it crashed into the Java Sea on December 28.