Fears grow for Air Asia flight carrrying 162 passengers after it goes missing off coast of Indonesia as desperate rescue mission is halted despite wreckage reports

An AirAsia flight from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore has disappeared after losing contact with air traffic controllers. Flight QZ8501 was meant to land at Changi Airport in Singapore about 8.30am local time but could not be contacted by Indonesian officials from 7.24am local time.

The Indonesian-owned budget airline confirmed in a Facebook statement that the Airbus A320-200 (actual plane pictured above), with 162 people on board had gone missing minutes after the pilot had asked for permission to increase his altitude because of bad weather. Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.

AirAsia confirmed there were 138 adults, 16 children, one baby and seven crew on board made up of 156 Indonesians, 3 South Koreans and one from France, Singapore and Malaysia.