An AirAsia aircraft with 155 passengers and seven crew members on board has gone missing.
The Airbus 320-200 took off from Surabaya, Indonesia at 5.20am local time (6.20am Malaysian time) and was due to arrive in Singapore two hours later, but has lost contact with air traffic control.
LIVE REPORTS
1.30pm: In an updated statement, Air Asia says the aircraft requested deviation from its flight path due to weather conditions before communications with the Indonesia Air Traffic Control (ATC) was lost.
It also confirmed that the flight had 162 people on board, with 155 passengers, two pilots and five cabin crew.
As for the breakdown, 156 of them were Indonesians (including two cabin crew), three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one French national and one Malaysian.
The Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is spearheading the search and rescue operations.
"The captain in command had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours," the statement says.
"The aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on 16 November 2014," it adds.
1.25pm: Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai's media officer has denied that the minister will be holding a press conference on the lost of the aircraft.
AirAsia group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes in a text message says the aircraft involved is AirAsia Indonesia and therefore the press conference will be held in Jakarta.
In Jakarta, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's Air Transport director Djoko Murjatmodjo says Flight QZ8501 went missing shortly after informing air traffic control that it was facing thick clouds.
He said the aircraft, which was flying at 32,000 feet, turned to the left to avoid the thick clouds, according to the press conference streamed on Kompas TV.
PM: Chances are something bad has happened
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak says Malaysia is prepared to aid Indonesia in its efforts to locate the plane.
"Chances are, something bad has happened to the plane. That's all we know for now and we will help to find out what had happened to the plane," he says, according to a Bernama report.
Meanwhile, AirAsia founder and group CEO Tony Fernandes says AirAsia will be releasing another statement on the plane's disappearance soon, and that he thanks people for their support and prayers.
His tweet has since drawn widespread support from the online community.
1pm: According to aviation tracking website FlightRadar24, Flight QZ8501 disappeared from the radar northwest of the Java Sea.
The nearest land mass ahead of its trajectory are Pulau Belitung and Pulau Bangka.
According to the flight tracker portal, the aircraft with registration number PK-AXC had previously taken off from Kuala Lumpur at 8.45pm (local time) last night and landed safely in Surabaya at 10.20pm (local time).
However, the aircraft appeared to face trouble in its subsequent flight the next morning to Singapore.
The status of the aircraft on the website is now listed as unknown.
12.50pm: CNN Indonesia reports that the last known location of the plane is believed to be around the island of Belitung, off the east coast of Sumatra.
It lies roughly a third of the distance to Singapore from Surabaya along the flight path.
This is according to Indonesia's Transportation Safety Commission official Tatang Kurniadi, who says that the authorities are now zeroing in on the flight's exact last known location.
A team of search and rescue operators are on their way towards Belitung right now, he adds.
12.35pm: Indonesian news agency Kompas.com is reporting that there have been sightings of a plane having crashed off the island of Belitung, Indonesia - though the exact location has not yet been verified.
A village chief in Beltim reportedly received a call from one his villagers about a flight crashing off Belitung island, and he has notified authorities regarding the news.
162 people on board
12.24pm: The following is the statement released by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore:
An Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501, scheduled to arrive at 0830 hours local time from Surabaya, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 0724 hours local time today.
Singapore air traffic control was informed of this loss of contact at 0754 hours by Jakarta air traffic control.
The aircraft was in the Indonesian Flight Information Region (FIR) when contact was lost, more than 200 nm southeast of the Singapore-Jakarta FIR boundary.
Search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian authorities from the Pangkal Pinang Search and Rescue office.
The Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and supported by various agencies, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), has also been activated and has offered help to the Indonesian authorities.
Two C130s are already on stand-by for this purpose. We remain ready to provide any assistance to support the search and rescue effort. The CAAS and Changi Airport Group (CAG) Crisis Management Centres have already been activated. We are working with the airline’s crisis management team.
A waiting area, and all necessary facilities and support have been set up for relatives and friends of the affected passengers at Changi Airport Terminal 2 (Level 3).
Further updates will be provided once more information is available.
12.12pm: According to the Straits Times, the flight has 162 people on board, with 155 passengers.
149 Indonesians
3 Koreans
1 British
1 Singaporean
1 MalaysianEarly figures show that there are 138 adults, 16 children and 1 baby on board the flight, which has been missing for about four hours now.
There are seven crew members - one pilot, one first officer, an engineer and four flight attendants.
In addition, AirAsia has notably changed its Facebook profile picture to black and white shortly after confirming that it has lost contact with the flight.
The move has been followed by other AirAsia regional Facebookpages, such as AirAsia Korea and AirAsia Philippines.
11.43am: AirAsia Indonesia issues a statement on the disappearance:
AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 0724 hours this morning.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.
At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.
AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.
AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, www.airasia.com
