Distraught relatives flew to Makassar on Sulawesi island to be close to the search as military aircraft, navy ships and police and civilian teams focused efforts on the waters just west of the island and an area inland.

The Adam Air Boeing 737-400 with 96 passengers, including three Americans, and six crew vanished from radar screens Monday halfway through a flight from Surabaya, on central Java island, to Manado on Sulawesi's northeast tip.

Reports by officials Tuesday that the wreckage and some survivors had been found on a jungle-covered mountain near Polewali in the west turned out to be false after rescue teams combed the area.

Aircraft accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation stretching over 5,000 kilometres , but the unusual circumstances in this case have stunned the country.

Adri Mamoto, whose parents were on board the flight, said he had travelled from Manado to Makassar only to be told there was no news after all.

"After all that effort, we decided to just go back home to Manado and wait for more news from Adam Air, what else can we do?" he told ElShinta radio.

Mila, sister of air hostess Nining Iryani, said the reports had disturbed her family.

"This is a question of life," she told the Warta Kota daily. "Do not fool around when disseminating information. Our whole family has had no peace since we heard of the crash."

"Don't they know how badly it has affected families?" questioned Wenny, the sister of another air hostess, Dina Oktarina.

The latest search was concentrated on the sea off Pambauang near Majene, 40 kilometres west of Polewali, which is some 200 kilometres north of Makassar, as well as areas inland.

Navy ships had late Monday started searching around Pambauang after locals reported seeing something floating in the sea that looked like a jet, MetroTV said.

That search was abandoned after reports the wreckage had been located near Polewali, but navy ships Wednesday resumed their sweep of the same area while military aircraft also scoured the forests and hills of West Sulawesi.

"Based on the search and rescue team's information, there were two sets of coordinates found in the beginning," Polewali police chief Sukria Gaus told MetroTV, referring to a signal picked up by a Singapore satellite.

One was at Matanga, a village west of Polewali, and the second was in the sea off Majene, he added.

"We are concentrating on these two locations. We will try to find them."

MetroTV showed rescue workers inland on motorbikes struggling through deep mud along forest tracks.

Reports throughout Tuesday from police, the military and rescue officials, some citing aerial photographs and others quoting villagers, all said wreckage had been found along with 12 survivors.

But hopes were later dashed when regional military commander Major General Arif Budi Sampurno said there was nothing.

Furious media accused authorities of lying. "The people have been lied to," said the Pikiran Umum daily.

"More embarrassingly, this news has been spread not just locally but all over the world," the newspaper said, adding that the way the reports spread reflected the weaknesses in the country's communication system.

The Point newspaper noted an apology by Air Commodore Eddy Suyanto, who as head of Hasanuddin Air Force Base at Makassar and spokesman for the National Search and Rescue Board had been among those erroneously reporting the finds.

"We apologize to the people," Suyanto said simply.