Sad News & Photos: AirAsia Flight #QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore loses contact with air traffic control

A flight bound for Singapore from Indonesia has lost contact with air traffic control after flying through bad weather.

An AirAsia flight that departed Surabaya on Sunday at 5.30am (Indonesian local time) was meant to land at Changi Airport at 8.30am (Singapore local time). 

It has been reported there were 155 passengers on board - including 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant, and AirAsia have confirmed there were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board. 

Nationalities of passengers and crew on-board are one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one French, three South Koreans and 156 Indonesians.  

There is an unconfirmed report of a wreckage being found east of Belitung Island in the Java Sea. 

AirAsia Indonesia has released a statement on Facebook saying that: '[It] regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07.24hrs this morning'.

'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,' it said.

'At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.'

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.

The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude due to bad weather, the ABC reported.