AirAsia flight carrying 162 people goes missing in Southeast Asia: officials
Indonesia's air force was searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that went missing on Sunday after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 am. (2317 GMT), officials said. "The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to enroute weather before communication with the aircraft was lost," the airline said in a statement.
No distress signal had been sent, said Joko Muryo Atmodjo, air transportation director at Indonesia's transport ministry.
Indonesia AirAsia said there were 155 passengers and seven crew on board. It said 156 were Indonesian, with three from South Korea and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and France.
Both neighboring Singapore and Malaysia had offered to help in the search, officials said.
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Asian markets mostly rose Monday on the first full day of trade after the Christmas break, with confidence boosted by Chinese easing measures and another Wall Street record.
Shares in AirAsia tumbled after one of the budget carrier's jets went missing with 162 people on board Sunday and had still not been found early Monday.
Tokyo added 0.31 per cent, Hong Kong jumped 1.48 per cent, Sydney rose 1.01 per cent and Seoul lost 0.51 per cent while Shanghai rallied 1.26 per cent.
With most bourses were closed at the end of last week, Monday was the first time dealers were able to react to the positive news out of the United States and China.
