AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Loses Contact with Traffic Control on Route to Singapore
The airline AirAsia lost contact with flight QZ8501 over the Java Sea in Indonesia late tonight. The plane was flying at roughly 32,000 feet when contact between it and traffic control got cut off. Multiple reports say 162 people were on board.
AirAsia provided details in a statement posted to its Facebook page:
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.
At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.
At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact at 07:24hrs this morning http://t.co/WomRQuzcPO
— AirAsia (@AirAsia) December 28, 2014
And if you go to its Facebook page, its logo has changed colors since the plane went missing:
@AirAsia has changed its logo colour to grey from red on all of its Facebook pages after #QZ8501 went missing pic.twitter.com/G9Ew7TVw6n
— Leisha Chi (@leishachi) December 28, 2014
The plane left Surabaya Juanda International Airport on route to Singapore, but the flight was supposed to land hours ago. Indonesian Transport Minister Hadi Mustofa said the last communication from the flight was the pilot asking to fly higher because of bad weather (possibly a storm, reports suggest) in the area.
AirAsia is based out of Malaysia (kind of a strange coincidence given MH370), and the Prime Minister of Malaysia has already commented on the disappearance:
PM @NajibRazak on AirAsia QZ8501: "I don't have much details yet, but big possibility that a tragedy has occurred." @NST_Online
— Rozanna Latiff (@roznst) December 28, 2014
PM @NajibRazak on missing AirAsia QZ8501: "Malaysia will do all it can to help find out what happened." @NST_Online
— Rozanna Latiff (@roznst) December 28, 2014
Flightradar24 has some information up about where the plane was when it lost contact:
Indonesia AirAsia #QZ8501 has gone missing. Flightradar24 picked up last signal 23:12 UTC
http://t.co/OLdvN7xQfr pic.twitter.com/p8yH3Ws4Zi
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
Indonesia AirAsia #QZ8501 was flying at 32000 feet over Java Sea when ADS-B signal was lost pic.twitter.com/Xqy2lDkRnJ
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
There were several aircraft nearby the area where signal from #QZ8501 was lost pic.twitter.com/UfrprR2nCq
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
The missing #QZ8501 aircraft is an Airbus A320 delivered in September 2008
http://t.co/7Ia0pEpr0S pic.twitter.com/Rr8EINmb7s
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
Flightradar24 did not pick up any emergency signals from #QZ8501 The signal was just lost at 23:12 UTC pic.twitter.com/fF36RxqiYR
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
#QZ8501 may have flown out of Flightradar24 coverage at 23:12 UTC as we are missing coverage on lower altitudes in this area.
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
There’s also a statement out about action being taken by the Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre:
Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre has been activated. #QZ8501 http://t.co/1lb1RyIgaK pic.twitter.com/5z3VCpDc30
— Channel NewsAsia (@ChannelNewsAsia) December 28, 2014
Update- 12:33 am EST: AirAsia put out a new statement confirming there were 162 people on board––155 passengers, 7 crew members––and said that search and rescue operations are underway. 157 of the individuals on board were Indonesian, 3 were South Korean, 1 was Malaysian, and 1 was from Singapore.
You can watch CNN’s report below:
UPDATE – 12/28/14: Watch the latest updates via CNN, below:
[image via nitinut380/Shutterstock]
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