AirAsia plane with 161 aboard missing in Indonesia

Jakarta — An AirAsia plane with 161 people aboard lost contact with
ground control on Sunday after takeoff from Indonesia on the way to
Singapore, and search and rescue operations were under way.

The plane lost communication with Jakarta's air traffic control at
07:24, about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore, the
Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The contact
was lost about 42 minutes after takeoff from Indonesia's Surabaya
airport, Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told
Indonesia's MetroTV.

AirAsia said in a statement that the plane was an Airbus A320-200 and
that search and rescue operations were in progress.

The plane had six crew and 155 passengers, including 16 children and
one infant, the general manager of Surabaya's Juanda airport,
Trikora Raharjo, told The Associated Press.

There were six foreigners — three South Koreans including an infant
and one each from Singapore, British and Malaysia, said Raharjo. The
rest were Indonesians, he said.

The plane lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea
between Kalimantan and Java islands, Mustofa said.
He said the weather in the area was cloudy.

The Singapore aviation authority said it was informed about the
missing plane by Jakarta ground control about half an hour after the
contact was lost.

"Search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian
authorities," it said, adding that the Singapore air force and the navy
also were activated with two C-130 planes.

- AP