Two members of the Indonesian Navy’s Tactical Commanding Operator (TACCO) help with the search for AirAsia flight QZ 8501 on board a CN235 aircraft over Karimun Java, in the Java Sea December 28, 2014 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. REUTERS/Antara Foto/Eric Ireng
(Reuters) - An AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that went missing after its pilot failed to gain permission to alter course to avoid a storm is believed to have crashed into the sea, a senior Indonesian rescue agency official said on Monday.
Indonesia was searching the Java Sea on Monday for the AirAsia plane that went missing on Sunday during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
“Based on our coordinate estimation, initial estimation is in the water,” Soelistyo, head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said of the missing plane’s likely location.
“It can be expanded based on evaluation,” he told reporters on Monday.
(Reporting by Jakarta bureau; writing by Michael Taylor; Editing by Paul Tait)