Malaysian low-cost airline Air Asia said in a statement that flight QZ 8501 had disappeared at 7:24 a.m. Sunday (7:24 p.m. Saturday ET) after leaving Surabaya.
It had been expected to land in Singapore at 8:37 a.m. Sunday (7:37 p.m. ET)
Reports said there was no information on wreckage.
“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 said in a statement.
The Airbus A320-200 aircraft was carrying 155 passengers including crew members. Indonesian media said 149 Indonesians, three people from Korea, and one from Singapore, Britain and Malaysia were on board.
Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa told Indonesian media that the aircraft lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17am local (23:17GMT). He said the plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact, Reuters reported.
Poor weather was the most likely cause of the crash of the airbus, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said. “We still had lines of very heavy thunderstorms” when the plane was flying, Van Dam said. “But keep in mind, turbulence doesn’t necessarily bring down airplanes.”
At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.
AirAsia is a Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with subsidiaries in several Asian countries.
comments