Air Asia Plane carrying 162 people missing

An Air Asia flight travelling from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore has been declared missing.

The plane, Flight QZ8501, had 162 people on board and was scheduled to land in its destination at 8:30 a.m.‎ local time on Sunday.

The airline has declared that it does not have any information on the status of the passengers and crew on board the Airbus A320-200 plane.

“At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available,” the airline said on its Facebook page.

The pilot of the flight, which left Surabaya at 5:20 a.m. had asked for a ‘deviation’ from its flight plan due to bad weather, the BBC quotes an official as saying.

Of the 162 people on board the budget airline, 155 were passengers‎ including 138 adults, 16 children and one infant.

Air Asia Indonesia is an affiliate of Air Asia Malaysia.

Malaysian aviation has suffered two air disasters in 2014 as one plane disappeared and another was shot down over Ukraine.

Flight MH370 carrying 239 people disappeared while travelling to Beijing in March, while Flight MH17 was shot down in July killing all 298 people on board.

Search and rescue for the Air Asia flight is ongoing.