Update 4:15pm: AirAsia has confirmed the flight as missing on their Facebook page, saying that search and rescue operations are in progress.
An AirAsia flight from Indonesia to Singapore has lost contact with ground control, who have not been able to contact the aircraft for over four hours.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that QZ8501 is an Airbus with an estimated 160 people on board including sixteen children and one baby. No Australians are believed to be on the flight.
The last communication was said to have been the pilot requesting to change altitude to 34,000 ft due to poor weather conditions.
A crisis centre in Surabaya, Indonesia, has been established for distressed relatives of those on board. AirAsia is a low cost Malaysian airline (not be be confused with Malaysian Airlines) headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.
We’ll keep you posted with any developments.
Photo via Getty / Roslyn Rahman
