AirAsia plane tragedy opens still unhealed wounds

Photo taken on Dec 28, 2014 shows an Indonesian television broadcasting the possible location of missing Air Asia flight QZ 8501. Air Asia said on Sunday in a statement that its flight QZ8501 from Surabaya of Indonesia to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control at 7:24 in the morning. (Xinhua/Veri Sanovri)

Jia Yu knows all too well how those whose loved ones were onboard missing AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 feel, since she was in a similar position nine months ago.

"I reposted the news [about the missing plane] the minute I saw it online. It brought back painful memories," she said.

Yang Jiabao, Jia's close friend from northeast China's Liaoning Province, was on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 -- along with 238 other passengers, 154 of whom were Chinese -- when it vanished on March 8. The plane was never found.

Jia finds it hard to comprehend how these tragedies can even happen in this day and age.

"I'm really confused -- Is 'disappearance' now a new type of accident? We didn't hear much about it before," she said.

Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard MH370 have reached out to their distraught counterparts, who were mostly Indonesians.

"We must be strong, and believe in miracles," commented a group of relatives of those aboard MH370 on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog service.

Although no Chinese citizens were on the AirAsia jet, the Chinese public are keeping a close eye on search and rescue developments. According to Sina Weibo, posts on the topic have seen billions of hits on the platform.

Flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people, went missing en route from Indonesia to Singapore on Sunday after the pilot requested his flight plan be changed due to stormy weather.[Special coverage]

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said at a televised press conference on Sunday evening that the jet might have crashed but there was no information about where it might be.

The plane was operated by AirAsia Indonesia, a unit of Malaysia-based carrier AirAsia.

Another Malaysia Airlines passenger aircraft, flight MH17, was shot down over Ukraine in July.

"It is horrifying to imagine that more families are feeling the same despair [...] I guess the new tragedy may reopen the old wounds of the families of MH370 victims," wrote Jin Doudou, a Sina Weibo user who posts under the name "Jindoudouhaha", and she is right.

"The incident brought back the torment we suffered in the days following March 8 [...] We really don't want to look back," wrote the relatives' committee.

Nearly 300 fruitless days after the aircraft went missing, many relatives continue to attend the routine updates on the search and rescue efforts for MH370 in Beijing. Media reports say four elderly relatives have passed away, partly due to stress.

Spokesman with the relatives' committee Jiang Hui told a NetEase reporter that all grieving relatives can do now is to keep asking for more satellite data from Malaysia Airlines, "even though the media often posts more comprehensive, faster information".

Jia Yu says she regularly burns paper money in memory of her friend.

"When I do this, I am supposed to face the direction of where she was buried. But I don't know where she is. You know, that's the saddest part," she said.