On Sunday, an AirAsia plane with flight number QZ8501 has gone missing after losing contact with the Indonesian air traffic control. The commercial passenger jet was flying from Indonesia and is going to Singapore. According to the company's statement, there were 155 passengers, 2 pilots and 5 cabin crew on board.
The missing airplane, AirAsia Flight QZ8501, was an Airbus A320-200 that disappeared midway into the flight of over two hours from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya City. According to BBC News, no distress call was made but the jet requested a "deviation" from the flight path due to storm clouds.
At around 7:24 a.m. Sunday (Singapore Time), the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lost communication with Jakarta's air traffic control about an hour before it was set to land in Singapore. According to the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority, the contact was lost approximately 42 minutes after the single-aisle aircraft took off from an Indonesian airport. The Guardian reported the plane lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java Islands.
Search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of The Indonesia of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). However, bad weather gripped the region at the time with heavy thunderstorms noted, as reported by CNN. Thus, a search operation has been suspended for the night.
The missing plane, AirAsia Flight QZ8501, had 162 passengers on board with 138 adults, 16 children, 1 infant, 2 pilots, 4 flight attendants and 1 engineer. According to Newsweek, majority of the passengers were Indonesians with three Korean nationals, one Malaysian and one Singaporean.
The AirAsia plane is an Airbus A320-200 and is just over six years old. Airbus released a statement through a Twitter post that they are assessing the incident.
We have been informed of an event and all efforts are now going towards assessing the situation.
— Airbus (@Airbus) December 28, 2014
AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes also posted a Twitter message. He later announced that he was flying to Surabaya since majority of the passengers were from there.
We will be putting out another statement soon. Thank you for all your thoughts and prays.we must stay strong. — Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
AirAsia is a Malaysian-based airline that is well-known as a budget carrier in the region. It has about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in several Asian countries.
The missing AirAsia plane with flight number QZ8501 marked the second mysterious aviation crisis that gripped Southeast Asia in less than a year. Last March, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 also disappeared on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage that was believed to be in southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama was briefed on the missing plane, AirAsia Flight QZ8501, at 11:56 p.m. (EST).
"White House officials will continue to monitor the situation," White House spokesperson Eric Schultz told reporters.
The missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 incident comes at the end of a very challenging year for air travelers in the region where two aviation tragedies, the missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 and the Malaysian Airlines MH17 that was shot down over Ukraine in July killing all 298 passengers on board, stunned the world this 2014.
As of the moment, no wreckage of the missing AirAsia plane with flight number QZ8501 has been found yet.
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