Indonesia mobilizes multinational forces to search for missing QZ8501 plane

After the disappearance of flight QZ8501, Indonesia is mobilizing all its forces and asking for help from neighboring countries.

The Indonesian government on December 28 mobilized a multinational force to search for the missing AirAsia Airbus QZ8501 early that morning. Meanwhile, the governments of many countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Australia have also offered assistance.

At a press conference held last night at the headquarters of the National Search and Rescue Center, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that all military and civilian forces, both domestic and foreign, have been mobilized for the search for the missing plane.

“The Indonesian government has requested the National Search and Rescue Center, the Air Force, the Navy and the Army, as well as local authorities to mobilize all necessary capabilities and equipment to search for the missing aircraft on land and sea. We have also received requests for assistance from neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.”

Relatives of passengers on flight QZ8501 are very confused. (Photo: EPA)

Also last night, Indonesia's AirAsia re-announced the nationalities of the passengers and crew members, including one Singaporean, one Malaysian, three Koreans, one British national and 149 Indonesians. The crew members included one Frenchman and six Indonesians.

AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 carrying 155 passengers and 7 crew members lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. yesterday (local time) while on a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore.

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Transport, no distress signal was sent from the ill-fated plane. Also in a press conference last night, Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes said that before losing contact, the pilots had requested to change altitude to avoid clouds, and affirmed that so far the only confirmed information is that the plane flew into bad weather.

Image of crew members and the missing plane. (Photo: JP)

“The Indonesian authorities are doing their best to find the missing aircraft. So we don’t want to give any information based on speculation. There were indeed storm clouds and the pilot requested a change in altitude. This is the only thing we have so far and we don’t want to give any speculation. Let’s focus on the search first and then we will conduct the appropriate investigations.”

Previously, the Indonesian Ministry of Transport also confirmed that rescue operations will continue, while reminding all parties not to make any premature conclusions about the disappearance. Search operations will resume this morning./.

According to VOV