A search and rescue operation is under way in the ocean off Indonesia after AirAsia flight QZ 8501 went missing with 162 people on board about halfway through its flight from Surabaya to Singapore yesterday.
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The plane, carrying 155 passengers and seven crew, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control about 6.17am local time (10.17am AEST), according to transport ministry official Hadi Mustofa, and only a minute later it disappeared from the radar.
At 7.55am it was officially declared missing, Indonesian authorities said.
Grave fears are now held for the 138 adults, 16 children and one infant on board, plus seven crew. Three passengers were South Koreans, one German, one Singaporean, and one Malaysian. The other 149 were Indonesian. Six of the crew were Indonesian, but the co-pilot was French.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said she understood no Australians were on the plane.
"It's always deeply concerning when we hear news such as this and all we can do is ascertain as much as we can about the details of the flight and to determine whether there were any Australians on board," Ms Bishop said.
She added that she had offered Australia's "support and assistance".
The missing plane departed at 5.35am Indonesian time (9.35am AEST) and was scheduled to arrive at 8.30am Singaporean time (11.30am AEST).
Mr Mustofa said the last communication was from the pilot asking for permission to change the height in the Kumai Strait near Belitung due to bad weather to the left of the plane. When it went missing, the plane still had enough fuel for four hours flying time.
As a press conference, Indonesia's Minister for Transport, Ignasius Jonan, said the flight disappeared from view between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak, and, on the last contact, it was not far from the shoreline.
The sea-borne search would begin where it went missing and then get wider. Search and rescue agencies were on the move from Singapore and civilian shipping was asked to provide information if they saw anything.
The Minister of Transport asked the media not to make any assumptions but to be patient, and as soon as they had any information it would be released.
Earlier, Tatang Zaenudin, deputy of personnel from Basarnas, said the search and rescue agency had deployed seven ships to search in the sea near Belitung.
A crisis centre was set up at Surabaya airport as soon as news broke publicly and relatives tearfully viewed a full list of names of those on the flight.
One woman at the crisis centre had seven family members including her mother and brother on board.
Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla tweeted: "We pray together with hope that the AirAsia plane QZ8501 SBY-Sin, which lost contact, is soon found and all passengers and crew have survived."
AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes tweeted: "Thank you for all your thoughts and prays. We must stay strong."
Shortly after the airline posted its first message, it changed its Twitter and Facebook profile pictures, removing its red and white logo and replacing it with a grey and white one.
"At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is co-operating fully and assisting the rescue service," the airline said.
AirAsia said the captain in command had a total of 6100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2275 flying hours.
The aircraft, an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC, had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on November 16, and was only six years old.
It is the third serious incident involving a Malaysian airline in the past year, after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 in March and MH17 in July.
AirAsia, a Malaysian-owned budget airline, had until yesterday established a good reputation for efficiency and safety.
However, AirAsia was embroiled in controversy earlier this year after publishing an article in its in-flight magazine claiming their planes would "never get lost".
with Reuters, AP and staff writers