Saturday, 27 December 2014
AIR ASIA FLIGHT GOES MISSING WITH 155 PEOPLE ON BOARD
AIR ASIA FLIGHT LOSES CONTACT WITH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: REPORTS
Flight from Indonesia to Singapore asked for unusual route, Indonesia report says
An AirAsia from the Indonesia city of Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday , Indonesia media said, citing a Transport Ministry official.
Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the aircraft, flight number QZ8501, lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17 a.m local time.
He said the plane had asked for unusual route before it lost contact.
The flight is reportedly an Airbus 320-200 with 155 people on board.
More details are awaited .
Here are more details.
No wreckage has been found, an Indonesian official told the BBC.
AirAsia's Chief Executive Tony Fernandes, who has flown to Surabaya, said: "We don't want to speculate but right now of course the plane has been missing for 12 hours and there's a deep sense of depression here.
Here are more details.
No wreckage has been found, an Indonesian official told the BBC.
AirAsia's Chief Executive Tony Fernandes, who has flown to Surabaya, said: "We don't want to speculate but right now of course the plane has been missing for 12 hours and there's a deep sense of depression here.
"This is a massive shock to us and we are devastated by what has happened. It's unbelievable."
He said the captain had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia.
The flight left Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 local time (22:35 GMT) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).
The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path to avoid thick storm clouds, AirAsia said.
Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m).
Ministry official Djoko Murjatmodjo said the request "could not be approved at that time due to traffic, there was a flight above, and five minutes later [flight QZ8501] disappeared from radar".
At the scene: Saira Asher, Changi Airport, Singapore
Flight QZ8501 was supposed to arrive early this morning. Hours later the families of the passengers gathered here have very little information.
Airport officials are keeping them well away from the media and trying to make them comfortable.
The scenes at Changi are reminiscent of those in Kuala Lumpur immediately after MH370 went missing in March: anxious relatives waiting for any news on their loves ones, a media frenzy, but no answers.
At the scene: Alice Budisatrijo in Surabaya airport
A few hours ago many of the relatives at the crisis centre in the airport still seemed calm - glued to their phones, perhaps trying to find any news of the plane or stay in touch with friends and loved ones
But more than 12 hours since the plane took off they are looking increasingly worried. Officials still have no idea what happened to the aircraft. The governor of East Java, Soekarwo, the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, and the chief executive of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, have come to talk to the relatives to assure them that all is being done to locate the missing Airbus.
copy cat
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