Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and India join hands with Indonesia in search
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Kuala Lumpur (The Star) -- Five nations have joined hands in the massive search and rescue operation for missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 which went off the radar en route from Surabaya to Singapore.
Indonesian air traffic control lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 aircraft at 6.24 am (Western Indonesian time, an hour behind Malaysian time) as it was flying with 155 passengers and seven crew members on board yesterday.
In a show of Asean solidarity, Malaysia and Singapore offered assistance to Indonesia to look for the plane while Australia and India have also offered to help.
The six-year-old Airbus A320-200, which was last serviced in November, was flying over the Java Sea in Indonesian airspace when communication with air traffic control ceased about 42 minutes after take-off from Juanda Airport. The aircraft was supposed to have landed at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 8:30am.
The pilot had asked for a new route minutes before he went off the radio, air traffic control said.
The plane’s last detected position was 100 nautical miles south-east of Tanjung Pandan on Belitung Island.
