Missing AirAsia flight: search area set to expand as families' hopes dim – as it happened

We’re going to close our live coverage of the search for the day, and plan to resume shortly before search operations do tomorrow morning local time in Indonesia.

• Flight QZ8501 disappeared on Sunday flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, after last being seen on radar at 6.17am. The plane took off at 5.35am and was scheduled to arrive about two hours later with 162 passengers on board.
  

• Indonesian officials believe QZ8501 is likely “on the bottom of the sea”, search and rescue chief Bambang Soelistyo said. The pilots were denied a request to increase altitude to avoid a storm shortly before losing contact, but gave no distress signal.
  

• The aerial search has been called off for a second night. No aircraft or ships have detected any sign of wreckage or traces of the plane, though crews will test oil slicks in the heavily trafficked area to see whether they contain aviation fuel.

• Families’ hopes dimmed despite officials’ vows to continue searching. Family and friends of the Indonesian pilot began grieving, and officials have prepared counseling services for families. The brother of a UK citizen on board the flight told the Guardian he is “prepared for the worst” and the sister of the French co-pilot said “When a plane falls out of the sky there are hardly any survivors.”

• Officials said the search area will expand Tuesday, as France, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and China all joined the search effort with crew, ships and aircraft. Singapore has extra vessels ready to join in tomorrow’s search including a ship with submarine capability. Weather has so far impeded search efforts across the large but relatively shallow sea.

The search area will expand on Tuesday, Indonesian officials have said, saying that vessels will now patrol four more areas in addition to the seven searched Monday. The areas will now include certain areas of land, such as Belitung island.

At least 15 ships, seven aircraft and four helicopters are already looking for traces of the plane such as wreckage or oil, rescue spokesman Jusuf Latif said earlier today. Officials have asked the UK, US and France for sonar technology and and underwater search assistance.

France’s foreign ministry also said it has sent two investigators, and Australia dispatched a patrol plane to assist. Singapore and Malaysia have also sent ships and aircraft, and China’s defense ministry said it would send planes and ships, including a navy frigate. A ship and plane from Thailand are awaiting clearance to help, AP reports, and a number of Indonesian warships and local fisherman from Belitung have also joined the search.

The US navy fleet off the coast of Japan said it “stands ready to assist” but has not yet received a request from the search officials.

Weather has impeded the search so far, with rough waves decreasing visibility on the water and intermittent rain clouds obscuring the waves from above.

The search area is still vastly smaller, shallower and more stable than that for MH370, which is believed to have crashed in the remote and deep Indian Ocean after an erratic turn off its flight path.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered an immediate review of all aviation procedures, and vowed to find the flight no matter how long a search operation requires.

He said he was “shocked” to hear about the flight’s disappearance.

“I could feel the concern, the frustration and the sadness experienced by the passengers’ families, and I believe also felt by all the people of Indonesia.”

Air traffic controllers cited a crowded airspace as the reason they denied AirAsia 8501 its request to increase its altitude minutes before the plane disappeared, AP reports.

Six other commercial airliners were flying above the threatening Cumulonimbus clouds, controllers said, delaying the approval. More from AP:

Minutes later, the jet carrying 162 people was gone from the radar. No distress signal was issued. It is believed to have crashed into Indonesia’s Java Sea on Sunday morning, but exactly what happened and whether the plane’s flight path played any role won’t be determined until after the aircraft is found.

Broad aerial surveys on Monday spotted two oily patches and objects in separate locations, but it’s unknown whether any of it is related to the missing Airbus A320-200.

The last communication from the cockpit to air traffic control was a request by one of the pilots to increase altitude from 32,000ft (9,754m) to 38,000ft (11,582m) because of the rough weather. The tower was not able to immediately comply because of the other planes, said Bambang Tjahjono, director of the state-owned company in charge of air-traffic control.

AP spoke with a former pilot, Sarjono Joni, who’s familiar with Indonesian flight plans and weather. Sarjono said planes usually veer left or right when they encounter rough weather, and that pilots would only likely request to increase altitude if the plane was already experiencing heavy turbulence.

Heavy air traffic is common for the area, which bridges several densely populated cities.

The French co-pilot of AirAsia flight QZ8501 “dreamed” of flying as a boy, his sister has told a French radio station RTL. The translation of the tribute to Remi Plesel from his sister Renee by way of AFP:

“Since he was very young, it was his dream to be a pilot and the dream came true. He had been in Indonesia for three years … He was a very good pilot, an excellent one,” she said.

Renee said she was realistic about her chances of seeing her brother, originally from the island of Martinique in the Antilles, alive. “When a plane falls out of the sky, there are hardly any survivors.”

“We want them to find the plane, to explain to us what happened and to know whether we can go there, myself and my mother,” said Renee.

The co-pilot’s mother, Rolande Peronet-Plesel, told rolling news channel BFMTV that she received the call every parent dreads at 3am, from her son’s girlfriend.

“I’m waiting but we’re used [to planes going down] and not finding people. They never found the last plane that went down.”

Video of today’s search, which proved fruitless.

Indonesian authorities have so far discounted the likelihood that debris is related to QZ8501, and none of the search vessels have spotted plane wreckage yet.

Search chief Bambang Soelistyo has said boats will try to collect samples from an oil slick to see whether it could be aviation fuel, but the area is heavily trafficked so he and other officials urged caution.

Kirsten Han is in Singapore for the Guardian; she’s snapped a photo of a makeshift memorial at the airport for families of those on board QZ8501.

Information as to the location of the plane has remained scant but here is a summary of what we currently know about the short-haul AirAsia flight which was flying out of Indonesia’s second city Subrabaya destined for Singapore on Sunday with 162 passengers:

• Flight QZ8501 disappeared on Sunday after taking off from Surabaya, Indonesia at 5:35am. Less than an hour later at 6:17am it had lost all contact with air control.
  

• Indonesian officials say it is likely the vessel is at the bottom of the sea, as hope continues to fade that the plane and passengers will be found safe. There has been no distress signal detected or any sign of wreckage found at this stage.

• The aerial search has been called off for a second night. Debris spotted by an Australian plane earlier in the day is now not thought to be related to the AirAsia jet according to Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla.

• The brother of the only known UK citizen traveling aboard flight QZ8501 has told the Guardian he is “prepared for the worst”. Chi-Wai Choi says he is planning to travel to Singapore to support his family out there.

• Singapore has extra vessels ready to join in tomorrow’s search including a ship with submarine capability, MV Swift Rescue.

The Guardian has spoken to the brother of the only known UK national to have been on-board the AirAsia flight.

Named in reports as Chi-Man Choi, the energy industry executive was understood to have boarded the flight at the last minute with his two-year-old daughter, Zoe.

His brother Chi-Wai Choi, a 46 year old optometrist from Alsager, Cheshire said he was flying out to Singapore in the next few days to support his brother’s wife adding that he was “prepared for the worst.”

“There’s been no news officially but I guess you would kind of hope there’d be more information. But obviously we are concerned and we are prepared for the worst. We also try not to speculate.”

Choi said he was in touch with the UK’s foreign office who he said would be releasing a statement on the family’s behalf.

The latest update from transport ministry and aviation authority in Singapore confirms that earlier today, Indonesia accepted Singapore’s offer of two teams of specialists and two sets of underwater locator beacon detectors from the Singapore Ministry of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), to assist in locating the flight data recorders of the missing Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501.

This afternoon the release says, Singapore also offered additional equipment and personnel from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to support the AAIB operations, including a sidescan sonar system and a robotic remotely-operated vehicle. It continues:

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) deployed two C-130 aircraft to continue the search and locate (SAL) operation today, with the first taking off at around 6.30am in the morning and the second around noon. The RSAF plans to fly two sorties tomorrow.

The Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) Formidable-class frigate (RSS Supreme) and Missile corvette (RSS Valour) have arrived at the search area and commenced the SAL operation. A Landing ship tank (RSS Persistence) also sailed off this evening to join in the efforts.

The Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency, BASARNAS, has also accepted the Singapore Armed Forces’ offer of a Submarine support and rescue vessel (MV Swift Rescue). It is ready to set sail.

Families at Singapore’s Changi airport have been supported by counsellors and care officers as well as staff from AirAsia and airport partners. So far, 27 family members have flown to Indonesia, the release adds.

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As darkness descends upon the Java Sea, the aerial search has now been suspended both CNN and the BBC are reporting.

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UK satellite company Inmarsat who were involved in tracking missing flight MH370 earlier this year have told the Guardian that their location equipment was not installed on this AirAsia short-haul jet.