Indo-Asian News Service
Jakarta/Singapore, Dec 28: An AirAsia Airbus with 162 people on board disappeared Sunday morning amid thunderstorms while on way from Indonesia to Singapore, prompting the military to launch a major search that, however, was called off at dusk.
The aircraft took off at 5.20am (local time) from the Indonesian city of Surabaya and was to land at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 8.30am, the low-cost airline owned by an Indian-origin Malaysian said.
Indonesian officials said the pilot sought an unusual route due to thunderstorms between Kalimantan and Belitung island, before the aircraft lost contact with the air traffic control. The aircraft was then at 32,000 feet over Java Sea, in Indonesian territory. ‘‘The weather was not good, it was bad at the estimated location when the plane lost contact,’’ an Indonesian transport ministry official added.
The plane carried 162 passengers and crew on board. These included 138 adults, 16 children, an infant, two pilots and five cabin crew.
A total of 156 were Indonesian nationals. There were three South Koreans and one person each from France, Malaysia and Singapore.
In no time, the air force and navy ships from Indonesia and Singapore launched a major search for the missing plane in the Java sea. Australia too has offered help, and so has Malaysia.
Rescuers suspended their operation at nightfall Sunday. An official with Indonesia’s transport ministry said the search will resume Monday.
“Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said the plane went off the radar 42 minutes after take-off,” The Star newspaper reported.
‘‘This means the possibility of something untoward happening to the aircraft,’’ he said in Kuala Lumpur.
According to AirAsia, the captain of the Airbus A320-200 has 6,100 flying hours and the first officer 2,275 flying hours to their credit.
Grieving family members and friends of the passengers thronged the airport at Surabaya, to which most of the passengers belonged, as well as Singapore. Some wept openly.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes flew from Malaysia to Surabaya. ‘‘My prayers are with the (distraught) families,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiang Lai denied claims that the wreckage of the aircraft was found. SEE P-12
