Air Asia jet flight having 162 people on board including 7 staff crew went missing on Sunday morning, 45 minutes after it takes off from Surabaya airport in Indonesia. The flight bearing No.8501, a A320-200 model jet flight has left Surabai airport at 5.20 am local time and is expected to land at Changi airport in Singapore around 8.30 am.

 

The last communication takes place between the flight and the ground control at 6.13 am (23:13 GMT Saturday), when one of the pilots asked to take left turn and go for higher altitude of 34, 000 feet to avoid clouds. A minute later, the ground control lost contacts with the flight said Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia's acting director general of transportation. The plane is feared to be collapsed somewhere near Belitung island in the Java Sea. Out of the 155 passengers on board 149 are Indonesia citizens.

 

Twelve navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships of Indonesia are conducting search operations since Sunday morning but there is no trace of the missing plane or its passengers till now. Britain, Australia and South Korea have come forward to take part in the search operations.