Indonesia resumes search for missing AirAsia plane

[JAKARTA] Indonesia resumed at dawn Monday the search for an AirAsia plane that went missing in the Java Sea with 162 people on board, a search and rescue official said.

"We have resumed the search for the missing AirAsia plane at 6:00 am. We are heading to east Belitung island," Tatang Zainuddin, deputy operations chief of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) told AFP.

The Airbus A320-200 disappeared en route from Surabaya in Indonesia's east Java to Singapore after the crew requested a change of flight plan due to stormy weather, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year.

"We are sending out four aircraft today to help locate the AirAsia plane. We hope we can find it soon. There will also be help from various search and rescue offices in the cities around the area," Mr Zainuddin said.

"We are expecting vessels and planes from Malaysia and Singapore. We are processing the papers and hopefully they can join us in an hour at the earliest. We hope we can find the plane as soon as possible."

AFP