Search resumes for missing flight

AirAsia flight QZ8501 route (Google Maps)

The search resumed at dawn for an AirAsia flight that went missing while flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore Sunday with 162 people on board.  [Special coverage]

Indonesian officials remained hopeful of locating the Airbus 320-200 quickly but said it was too early to detect any of the electronic "pings" from the jet's black box recorder.

"We have resumed the search for the missing AirAsia plane at 6:00 am. We are heading to east Belitung island," Tatang Zainuddin, deputy operations chief of the national search and rescue agency, said.

"We are sending out four aircraft today to help locate the AirAsia plane. We hope we can find it soon. There will also be help from various search and rescue offices in the cities around the area.

"We are expecting vessels and planes from Malaysia and Singapore. We are processing the papers and hopefully they can join us in an hour at the earliest. We hope we can find the plane as soon as possible."

Indonesia has also accepted Australia's offer of a RAAF plane to join the search.

A P-3 Orion left Darwin this morning and is heading to the search area.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke to the Malaysian prime minister and Singaporean prime minister about the missing plane as well as to the Indonesian president last night to convey his sympathies and offer assistance.

Meanwhile, British media identified a British national on board the AirAsia plane as Chi Man Choi, a manager working for Alstom Power electricity company in Indonesia.

The reports said he was travelling with his two-year-old daughter Zoe, who has Singaporean nationality.

His wife and son travelled on an earlier flight.

"We have been informed by the local authorities that one British national was on board," a ministry statement read.

"Their next of kin has been informed, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance."

Relatives' fraught night waiting for news

More than 100 distraught relatives of passengers aboard missing flight QZ8501 spent the night hunkered down at a makeshift crisis centre at Surabaya airport in East Java, waiting anxiously for news.

AirAsia Malaysia chief Tony Fernandes was at the airport himself trying to comfort the families, but the airline could offer little besides food, a hotel for the night and assurances that all was being done to find the lost plane.

"We've been given accommodation from AirAsia but I couldn't rest with this on my mind," said one man who gave his name as Haryanto and who has four relatives on board.

He said he had been waiting at the airport for 10 hours.

Mr Fernandes, an English Premier League soccer club chairman and former Warner Music executive, addressed the relatives at a makeshift crisis centre set up in offices next to the terminal.

"Indonesian authorities are doing their best now for search and rescue, it's best not to speculate," he said.

"Our first priority is to look after the families."

Information on the fate of the plane that went missing on Sunday is scant.

The pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather about midway through a journey from Surabaya to Singapore, but issued no distress call.

Indonesia's air transport director Joko Muryo Atmodjo said the aircraft had been flying at 32,000 feet and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds before it lost contact.

AirAsia Indonesia yesterday confirmed the flight lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24am (Surabaya time).

The flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 05:35am.

On board were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain, plus a French pilot.

Singapore, Malaysia, Britain, South Korea and Australia have offered to help in the search and investigation.

AirAsia has not had a crash since it started operating in 2002.