A massive search and rescue operation for the missing AirAsia flight which lost contact with air traffic control over Indonesia has been suspended for the night due to unworkable conditions.
The fishing boats and official vessels that were sent out by Indonesia's national search and rescue authority, along with helicopters and Hercules aircraft from Singapore, will resume their efforts at sunrise on Monday morning.
There is an unconfirmed report of a wreckage spotted east of Belitung Island in the Java Sea, 100 miles from where the plane was last tracked.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 departed Surabaya, in Indonesia, on Sunday at 5.30am local time, and was scheduled to land at Changi Airport, in Singapore, at 8.30am (Singapore local time).
However, it lost contact with air traffic control as it flew over Indonesia at about 6.16am local time, a short time after the pilot asked to deviate from the flight path due to 'bad weather'.
The scenes of anguish were reminiscent of those in March 2014, when Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control several hundred miles north of Singapore. No trace of the craft has been found.
The pilot of the plane has been named as Captain Iriyanto, while the co-pilot is believed to be Frenchman Remi Emmanual Plesel. A picture of the pilot has been posted on social media by his daughter Angela Ranastianis. His nephew praised Capt Irianto as 'a very caring person'
The Airbus A320 lost contact with air traffic control as it flew over Indonesia at about 6.16am local time. AirAsia have confirmed there were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board
The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude due to bad weather
The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude to 34,000 feet due to bad weather
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