Search goes on even as hopes fade for lost AirAsia flight

The search for the missing AirAsia flight that disappeared with 162 people on board was due to resume again this morning. However, rescuers believe the aircraft, which did not issue a distress signal, may have crashed off the Indonesian coast and is lying at the bottom of the Java Sea.

Aircraft from all over the region had searched the area about halfway between Singapore and Surabaya before the search was called off at dusk for a second day on Monday. Bad weather is making the search difficult, according to officials.

At a news conference in Jakarta, Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency, said the search for the Airbus A320-200 was focused on a 150km stretch of the Java Sea near the island of Belitung, between Borneo and Sumatra.

“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,” Mr Soelistyo told a news conference in Jakarta.

While weather was bad, with some lighting strikes recorded, it should not have been particularly difficult for a modern airliner such as the A320-200, and it is a busy route in the Indonesian archipelago.

The missing Airbus belongs to the Indonesian subsidiary of regional budget carrier AirAsia, based in Malaysia. The disappearance of flight QZ8501 is the third calamity to strike a Malaysia-affiliated flight in less than a year. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found, while in July, a flight from the same airline, MH17, was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

About 40 minutes after leaving Surabaya, flight QZ8501 disappeared from the radar screens, shortly after it was denied permission to fly from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid clouds.

Indonesian airforce spokesman Hadi Thahjanto said two C-130 Hercules aircraft were focusing their search in areas northeast of Indonesia’s Bangka island, while ships from at least three countries had also joined the mission.

Singapore sent two naval vessels and a C-130 aircraft to help the search, while Malaysia said it would send three naval vessels and three aircraft. An Australian P3 Orion surveillance plane left Darwin to join the search. Local fishermen were also being enlisted. The Indonesian government was also accepting help from the US, Britain, South Korea and India, and China was sending a warship.

There were 155 Indonesians on the flight, three South Koreans and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.