BANGKOK — Indonesian authorities were searching for an AirAsia aircraft with 155 passengers onboard Sunday after air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane, the airline said.
The plane, Flight QZ8501, left the Indonesian city of Surabaya and was bound for Singapore, officials said.
Air traffic control lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 at 7:24 a.m. Singapore time, the airline said in a statement on its Facebook page.
“At this time, search-and-rescue operations are in progress, and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service,” the statement added.
Singapore’s air force and navy were also assisting in the search, officials said.
AirAsia, a budget operation, is based in Malaysia. Contact with the plane was lost about 42 minutes after takeoff, Hadi Mustofa, an Indonesian transportation ministry official, told Indonesia’s MetroTV, according to The Associated Press.
The airline said the plane had requested a “deviation” from its usual flight path because of the weather.
In addition to the 155 passengers on the plane — including 16 children and one infant — two pilots and five cabin crew members were onboard, the airline said in the statement.
Of the people on the plane, there were more than 150 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one French citizen, AirAsia said.
Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, said that President Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, had been briefed on the search for the plane, and that “White House officials will continue to monitor the situation.”
Flightradar24, a website that uses a global system of beacons to monitor air traffic, said the aircraft was flying at 32,000 feet over the Java Sea when the aircraft’s signal was lost. The Java Sea separates the islands of Borneo and Java.
AirAsia, one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines, competes with Malaysia Airlines, which lost contact with MH370 in March. That flight remains missing.
On Sunday, Malaysia Airline posted a message on its Twitter account: “#staystrong @AirAsia — Our thoughts and prayers are with all family and friends of those onboard QZ8501.
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