AirAsia plane carrying 162 lost in stormy weather; 3rd Malaysia airline shock
DECEMBER 27, 2014, 11:04 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2014, 4:10 PM
BY ALI KOTARUMALOS AND MARGIE MASON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, Indonesia — An astonishingly tragic year for air travel in Southeast Asia turned worse Sunday when an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people disappeared over stormy Indonesian waters, with no word on its fate despite several hours of searching by air and sea.
AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. Searchers had to fight against heavy rain.
The Malaysia-based carrier’s loss comes on top of the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine.
At the Surabaya airport, passengers’ relatives pored over the plane’s manifest, crying and embracing. Nias Adityas, a housewife from Surabaya, was overcome with grief when she found the name of her husband, Nanang Priowidodo, on the list.