Missing AirAsia plane likely at ‘bottom of the sea’

Updated on Monday, Dec. 29 at 12 p.m. EST | As rescue operations resumed Monday, the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 is likely to be at the “bottom of the sea.”

“Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea,” Bambang Soelistyo said at a news conference Monday.

Soelistyo said the plane’s location is still unknown and that Indonesia has asked other countries, including the United States, for help with an underwater search.

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Original story:
Authorities in Indonesia have halted the search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 as night fell on Sunday, Reuters reported. The search will resume at first light on Monday morning.

Air traffic control in Jakarta lost contact with the plane at 6:17 a.m. on Sunday, as the flight was en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

There was no distress call issued from the plane before it disappeared from radar screens, Reuters reported.

The pilot had requested “deviation due to en-route weather” before contact with the plane was lost, the airline said. The aircraft was flying at 32,000 feet and asked to climb to 38,000 feet to avoid clouds, air transportation director at the Transport Ministry Joko Muryo Atmodjo said at a press conference on Sunday.

PHOTO: Map locates Jakarta, Indonesia and details of the missing AirAsia plane: http://t.co/mHRfIdZMb6 pic.twitter.com/b6IWRi9rnR

— AP Interactive (@AP_Interactive) December 28, 2014

There were 162 people on board the Airbus A320-200 aircraft, which had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, the airline said.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this incident,” CEO of AirAsia Indonesia Sunu Widyatmoko said in a statement from the company posted on Facebook. “We are cooperating with the relevant authorities to the fullest extent to determine the cause of this incident. In the meantime, our main priority is keeping the families of our passengers and colleagues informed on the latest developments.”

In an updated statement, AirAsia revised the breakdown of those on board the missing flight. Of the passengers, there were 149 people from Indonesia, three from South Korea, and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. The crew was comprised of six Indonesians and one French national, the co-pilot.