EARLY EDITION 18:00 Search launched for missing AirAsia flight

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ARIRANG NEWS 18:00
Title: Search launched for missing AirAsia flight
We start with the news that an AirAsia passenger plane carrying 162 people has gone missing while en route from Indonesia to Singapore.
Search operations have been launched but we do not know the fate of the plane.
For the details, we have our Kim Min-ji on line.
Min-ji, fill us in.
MINJI: Good evening, Daniel.
This is what we know right now. AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 7.24 a.m, local time.
This was a little under two hours after the plane.. bound for Singapore,... left the Indonesian city of Surabaya.
Indonesian authorities say the pilots had asked to change route to avoid bad weather just before the plane lost contact with air traffic control.
The aircraft was flying at about 32-thousand feet and had asked to fly at 38-thousand feet to avoid clouds and stormy weather.
The flight was believed to have been flying over the Java Sea when communication was lost.
We must stress that the pilots onboard this flight are known to have experience, and no distress calls were sent prior to contact being lost.
A search and rescue operation has been launched,... and Singapore says it has activated its air force and navy to help.
AirAsia, a low budget carrier based in Malaysia, has also set up a crisis center for worried relatives to call.
It seems likely that this plane has unfortunately crashed though… as it would have run out of fuel by now,.. what are officials saying?
MINJI: Well..
Indonesia′s National Search and Rescue Agency says it believes the plane has probably crashed in waters about 145-kilometers from Belitung Island, roughly half way between Surabaya and Singapore.
They have dispatched a rescue team to the area.
There is speculation the Airbus A320 circled over the sea near Belitung to avoid a storm before it experienced severe turbulence and crashed into the ocean.
Do we know anything about the passengers that were on board?
MINJI: Yes, we do. There were 162 people were on board onboard this AirAsia flight..
Seven crew and 155 passengers,... which includes 16 children and an infant.
As for their nationalities, the overwhelming majority were Indonesians, three from South Korea and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and France.
Seoul’s foreign ministry says the Korean nationals are a man and a woman in their 30s and The ministry has convened an emergency meeting, saying that it will monitor progress in the search operations for the missing plane.
The government plans to closely watch related authorities′ search operations and will study various options, including the dispatch of a response team.a toddler.
Well, we hope for good news on that.
That was Kim Min-ji reporting on the missing AirAsia flight.
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