AirAsia jetliner missing over Java Sea
The A320-200 aircraft is carrying 155 passengers and six crew
Grieving relatives are waiting at airports in Indonesia and Singapore for news of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, which is missing believed crashed with 155 passengers and six crew on board.
It was flying from Surabaya in Java and was bound for Singapore and was last detected at 7.24am Singapore time on Sunday.
Air traffic control lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 shortly after the pilots requested permission to change course to avoid a thunderstorm in the Java Sea.
A search and rescue operation, assisted by the air forces and navies of both countries, was suspended overnight.
AirAsia is Asia’s largest budget airline is based in Kuala Lumpur and the flight was operated by its Indonesian subsidiary. The airline has set up crisis briefing centres at Surabaya Airport and Singapore’s Changi for passengers’ next-of-kin.
More than 40 relatives and friends of 57 passengers on board the Airbus A320-200 have registered at Changi's Terminal 2 and 16 next-of-kin took up the offer to fly to Surabaya on Sunday night.
AirAsia say there were more than 150 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one French citizen on board. The passengers also include 16 children and one infant.
AirAsia competes with Malaysia Airlines, which lost contact with MH370 in March. That flight remains missing.
Nevil Gibson
Mon, 29 Dec 2015
Mon, 29 Dec 2015
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AirAsia jetliner missing over Java Sea
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