JAKARTA/SINGAPORE, Dec 28:
An AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard went missing en route from Indonesia to Singapore today after pilots requested a change of flight plan due to bad weather, triggering a massive search in the third major incident this year involving a Malaysian carrier.
AirAsia Flight QZ8501 with 155 people on board — including one British, one Malaysian, one Singaporean, three South Koreans, 149 Indonesians — and seven crew members — six Indonesians and a French co-pilot — lost contact with air traffic control at 0724 local time Indonesia (0454 IST). There were no Indian nationals on board.
A massive search operation launched to locate the Airbus A320-200 with two Indonesian military aircraft and a chopper scouring the seas was called off for the day due to bad weather and darkness, 11 hours after the plane disappeared, and will be resumed tomorrow morning, officials said.
Contact with the plane, which took off from Surabaya (Indonesia) at 5:20 am local time and was scheduled to land at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 8:30 am, was lost 42 minutes after takeoff.
Sixteen children and one infant were among the passengers on board the plane with the registration number PK-AXC.
Indonesian officials earlier said the plane was several hours past the time when its fuel would have been exhausted.
There were unconfirmed media reports that a aircraft crashed in the waters of East Belitung, off the east coast of Sumatra. The exact location of the crash site has not been identified, media reports said.
However, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai dismissed the claims that wreckage of the aircraft had been found. Asked about reports that the missing flight has crashed in Belintung, Liow confirmed the reports to be false.
“There is plenty of speculation that they have found the plane. At this point in time that is not true. We are still looking for the plane,” Liow said.
A statement on AirAsia’s Facebook page said: “AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 0724 hrs this morning.”
Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.
Air Asia said the pilots requested “deviation due to enroute weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control.”
The Indonesia air transportation director said the pilot requested to increase altitude to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet to “avoid clouds.” Thunderstorms were reported in the area with clouds up to 50,000 feet, Indonesian officials said. (AGENCIES)
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