News Digest

Search suspended overnight for AirAsia flight with Briton on board

A British businessman and his two-year-old daughter are believed to be among those travelling on a flight that lost contact with air traffic controllers on Sunday morning. Hull-born Choi Chi Man and his daughter Zoe are understood to have been on board the AirAsia flight which was carrying 162 people from Indonesia to Singapore. His Singaporean wife and their other child travelled back to Singapore on an earlier flight, according to Channel News Asia. The search for the plane has now been called off for the day.

My only thoughts are with the passengers and my crew. We put our hope in the SAR (search and rescue) operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian governments.

Tony Fernandes, chief of Malaysia’s AirAsia, who is also chairman of QPR football club

Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said Flight QZ8501 stopped communicating with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 7.24am local time. He said the plane had asked for an unusual route before contact was lost with Indonesia’s Juanda International Airport in Surabaya. The flight was expected to arrive in Singapore at 8.30am local time (12.30am UK time). An AirAsia statement said there are 155 passengers on board; 138 adults, 16 children and one infant. Also on board are two pilots and five crew members. According to air traffic control website Flight Radar, the aircraft was travelling at 32,000-feet over the Java Sea when contact was lost.