AirAsia flight loses contact

Budget carrier AirAsia confirmed on Sunday that its flight QZ 8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore had lost contact with air traffic control. The French-made Airbus 320-200 aero plane had 155 passengers and crew on board, officials at Indonesia’s transport ministry told reporters in Jakarta. Indonesian media said 149 Indonesians, three people from South Korea, and one from Singapore, Britain and Malaysia were on board the flight QZ 8501 when it vanished from the screen of the control tower. A search and rescue operation had been launched, the authorities of the Malaysian-based AirAsia said, according to a news agency.