Airasia plane lost contact in Indonesia

An Airasia passenger plane on Sunday lost contact with ground control, after departing from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.

The QZ8501 flight lost communication 42 minutes after taking off at 5:35 am in Surabaya airport, staff at Indonesia's National rescue agency told Xinhua in a phone interview. The plane is scheduled to land in Singapore at 8:30 am local time.

155 people are onboard the plane, including 149 Indonesian, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one British and one Malaysian, local media quoted Indonesian Transportation Ministry as saying.

Indonesian military is deploying forces to search for the plane, after alleged report of plane crashing in the sea between Java and Kalimantan.