AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore confirmed missing–
AirAsia flight 8501 went missing over Indonesia tonight.
There were 162 people on board.
Air Asia lost contact with the plane one hour after takeoff.
CNN reported:
The search is on for AirAsia Flight 8501, which lost contact with air traffic control in Indonesia, the airline said Sunday.
Flight QZ 8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control at 7:24 a.m. Sunday (6:24 p.m. Saturday ET), AirAsia said.
“At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available,” AirAsia Indonesia said in a statement.
The flight, an Airbus A320-200, was on its way from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, according to the airline’s website.
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
contact was lost at 6:17 a.m. local time (23:17 GMT on Saturday), after the crew asked for an “unusual route.”
MISSING PLANE AIRASIA #QZ8501: The plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact. pic.twitter.com/fNY6RKaw3N
— Breaking News Feed (@PzFeed) December 28, 2014
There were several aircraft nearby when the plane went missing.
There were several aircraft nearby the area where signal from #QZ8501 was lost pic.twitter.com/UfrprR2nCq
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
The plane asked to fly at a higher altitude.
BREAKING: MISSING #AIRASIA FLIGHT HAD ASKED TO FLY AT HIGHER ALTITUDE TO AVOID CLOUDS http://t.co/b7KktYACQy – @AlArabiya_Eng
— CaribNews/PuertoRico (@caribnews) December 28, 2014
UPDATE: An aircraft reportedly crashed east of Belitung Island.
#Breaking An aircraft crashed east of #BelitungIsland, Indonesia, but not confirmed to be the missing #QZ8501, local media reports.#AirAsia
— CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) December 28, 2014
Belitung Islands are off the coast of South Sumatra.
The list of passengers on QZ8501 was released.
.@kemenhub151 releases full #QZ8501 passenger manifest. http://t.co/LwyIMc37He
— Yahoo Singapore (@YahooSG) December 28, 2014
UPDATE: Wreckage was reportedly found near Belitung Island.
UPDATE: Airplane wreckage reportedly found east of #BelitungIsland in #Indonesia. There is no confirmation from #AirAsia as of yet.
— Sinoway (@_sinoway) December 28, 2014
The Malaysian Insider reported on the crash east of Sumatra:
An aircraft has reportedly crashed in the waters off East Belitung, off the east coast of Sumatra, after authorities confirmed that AirAsia Flight QZ8501 went missing earlier today.
The Bangka Pos news portal said there was no confirmation of the crash site.
“Pak Danlanud called Bapak Basuri to say that an Airbus aircraft had crashed in the Beltim waters,” the portal quoted Yuhinu, the adjutant to the local authority chief Basuri T Purnama.
Beltim refers to Belitung Timur.
The flight with 155 on board had left Surabaya at 5.20am Indonesian time and was scheduled to land in Singapore at 8.30am Singapore time.
Western Indonesia is an hour behind both Malaysia and Singapore.
