AirAsia Flight QZ8501: Vanishes With 162 Passengers On It's Way to Singapore

AirAsia passenger jet flight QZ8501 carrying 162 people lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control early Sunday. Before communication was lost, one of the pilots asked to fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather, officials said. The AirAsia says it lost contact with the aircraft at 7:24 local time. The people on board the Airbus A320-200, 155 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is British, one is French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean, the airline said. Eighteen children, including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven of the people on board are crew members.

Singapore's civil aviation authority said its services were "activated" to help Indonesia search for missing flight, which was carrying six crew and 155 passengers -- 138 adults, 16 children and a baby, Transport Ministry spokesman J.A. Barata told Agence France-Presse. Speaking 10 hours after the plane lost contact, Indonesia Vice President Jusuf Kalla expressed deep concern.“It is most possible that it has experienced an accident,” he said. Sunu Widyatmoko, CEO of AirAsia Indonesia said, “We are deeply shocked and saddened by this incident. We are cooperating with the relevant authorities to the fullest extent to determine the cause of this incident. In the meantime, our main priority is keeping the families of our passengers and colleagues informed on the latest developments.”

Tony Fernandes the CEO of Air Asia tweeted the following: