AirAsia QZ8501: Indonesia suspends search for missing jet; Malaysia says no crash signs

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. (2317 GMT), officials said.

I as your group ceo will be there through these hard times. We will go through this terrible ordeal together … http://t.co/6iO2zKcFzN

— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014

Our priority is looking after all the next of Kin for my staff and passangers. We will do whatever we can. … http://t.co/6BFsUR7zDS

— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014

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“The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost,” the airline said in a statement.

#AirAsia Indian Navy keeps P8i maritime reconnaissance aircraft at INS Rajali; three ships on standby for search and rescue @IndianExpress

— Pranav Kulkarni (@PranavKulkarni) December 28, 2014

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Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the aircraft, flight number QZ 8501 which had 162 on board, lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17 a.m local time. (2317 GMT).

He said the plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.

Live updates:

Called Pres @jokowi_do2 to offer help. Two RSAF C-130 search & locate aircrafts are on standby. Our ministers will follow up. – LHL #QZ8501

— Lee Hsien Loong (@leehsienloong) December 28, 2014

# Singapore PM Lee Hsien expresses concern over missing AirAsia plane.

Updated statement: QZ8501 http://t.co/sJ008zEgUm

— AirAsia (@AirAsia) December 28, 2014

# No distress signal from Flight QZ8501, says Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia’s acting director general of transportation.

# Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s CEO, tweets: “Thank you for all your thoughts and prays. We must stay strong.” He later tweets to say he is heading to Surabaya.

# 16 children, 1 infant among 155 passengers on board.

# Malaysia to help in search of AirAsia flight, says Malaysia PM Najib Razak.

# Missing AirAsia flight had asked to fly at higher altitude to avoid clouds, Indonesian official.

# US President Barack Obama briefed on missing AirAisa flight and White House officals will continue to monitor situation, says White House spokesman.

# General manager of Surabaya’s Juanda airport, Trikora Raharjo told the Associated Press that there were 6 foreigners, 3 South Koreans including an infant and one each from Singapore, British and Malaysia. The rest were Indonesians.

# Dozens of relatives of people aboard the plane gather in a room at Surabaya airport to await word about their loved ones.

Relatives of the passengers of AirAsia flight QZ8501 comfort each other at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014. (Source: AP)

# Flight QZ8501 lost communication with Jakarta’s air traffic control at 7:24 a.m. Singapore time, about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

# A search and rescue operation is launched involving Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Three Indonesian aircraft are dispatched to the area, while Singapore’s air force and navy search with two C-130 planes.

# AirAsia says the Airbus A320-200 was on the submitted flight plan route. Murjatmodjo says it is believed to have gone missing somewhere over the Java Sea between Tanjung Pandan on Belitung island and Pontianak, on Indonesia’s part of Borneo island.

# 7 crew and 155 passengers on broad; lost contact when plane was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands, says Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told Indonesia’s MetroTV.

# HELPLINE: +622129850801; emergency number for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft.

(Tweet feeds)

#  Singapore Civil Aviation Authority says services ‘activated’ to help Indonesia search for missing flight.

# AirAsia says seach and rescue operations in progress.

# The last communication between the pilot and air traffic control is made at 6:13 a.m. (2313 GMT Saturday), when the pilot asks to turn left and climb to 34,000 feet (10,360 meters) to “avoid clouds,” according to Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia’s acting director general of transportation, who also said there was no distress signal from the cockpit.

# AirAsia Flight QZ8501 takes off from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, at 5:31 a.m. Sunday (2231 GMT Saturday), bound for Singapore.

# AirAsia says missing aircraft is an airbus A320-200 with registration number PK-AKC.

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact at 07:24hrs this morning http://t.co/WomRQuzcPO

— AirAsia (@AirAsia) December 28, 2014