Air Asia flight goes missing above Java Sea, 3 Koreans reported to be onboard

At least three South Koreans have been identified to be included in the missing Air Asia flight from Indonesia to Singapore. 

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 28th, one man, a woman in her 30s and an infant were included amongst the 162 passengers and crew members onboard Air Asia’s flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore. The missing flight was reported to have lost contact with the air traffic control in Jakarta, Indonesia earlier today after making a request in there flight route due to bad weather conditions.

After an emergency meeting was held, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured that they will closely monitor the ongoing search operations and will be looking into different options, such as a possible dispatch of an outreach response team.

Air Asia left Surabaya, Indonesia at 05:20 PM local time and was due to arrive in Singapore by 08:30. However, the plane reportedly went missing halfway through the flight with no distress call sent.

Currently, military plans and aircraft from Indonesia and Singapore have started search operations in the Java Sea.

Source: YonhapNews, DongA and BBC