Jakarta: A massive sea search resumed this morning for an AirAsia passenger jet that disappeared with 162 on board while flying from Indonesia to Singapore through airspace thick with storm clouds, strong winds and lightning.
First Admiral Sigit Setiayana, the Naval Aviation Center commander at the Surabaya air force base, said that 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were talking part, along with ships and planes from Singapore and Malaysia.
The Australian Air Force also sent a search plane.
READ MORE: Q&A on what might have happened to missing plane
Setiaya said visibility was good. “God willing, we can find it soon,” he said.
Shares in the company this morning were down 11.56 per cent.
Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo said at a press conference this morning: "Based on the coordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea. That's the preliminary suspicion and it can develop based on the evaluation of the result of our search.”
Shocked family members huddled at Surabaya airport, in Indonesia's second largest city, from where the Airbus A320 took off yesterday morning, awaiting news of the plane, operated by an airline whose parent company is based in Malaysia.
It is the third incident involving Malaysian jets this year: Malaysia Airlines suffered two tragedies - Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, vanished in March; Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 people aboard.
Indonesia and Singapore launched a search-and-rescue operation for Flight QZ8501 yesterday near Belitung island, in the Java Sea, in the area where the plane lost contact with air traffic control, about 42 minutes after taking off. The search was halted at 7pm because of darkness and bad weather, but it is due to resume this morning.
The flight had travelled a little less than half of its journey to Singapore when it disappeared from radar systems.
There were no Chinese nationals on board, but the Chinese foreign ministry said it was watching the developments. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the government was deeply concerned about the people onboard and extended her sympathy to their families.
Bian Liangwei, whose brother was on Flight MH370, which remains missing after taking off on March 8, said: "I hope all the people aboard the AirAsia flight are fine."
Speaking 10 hours after the plane lost contact, Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla expressed his deep concern. "It is most possible that it has experienced an accident," he said.
The last communication between the pilot and air traffic control was at 7.24am, AirAsia said. The plane, which took off at 5.35am, had been due to land at 8.30am.
