AirAsia flight carrying 162 people goes missing

A Singapore-bound AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard has lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control.

While AirAsia said contact with Flight QZ 8501 was lost at 7:24 a.m. Sunday (7:24 p.m. Saturday ET), Indonesian aviation authorities said it happened earlier, at 6:17 a.m.

The plane was scheduled to fly through from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, but it requested to deviate from the planned route, citing weather conditions.

“At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority,” AirAsia said in a statement.

According to the airline, 156 of the people aboard the Airbus A320-200 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean.

Seventeen children, including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven of the people on board are crew members.

Anxious family members have been arriving at the airports in Surabaya and Singapore, the departure and destination points of the flight.

Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of AirAsia, went on Twitter to thank members of the public for their thoughts and prayers, saying “we must stay strong”.

He also said he was travelling to Surabaya, where most of the passengers hail from.

AirAsia, a budget airline which owns 49 per cent of AirAsia Indonesia, is based in Malaysia and has never lost a plane. But 2014 has been a difficult year for Malaysian aviation.

In March, Malyaisian Airlines Flight MH370 travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared with all 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, believed to be in southern Indian Ocean, has still not been found.

In July, MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. All 298 aboard died.