The search continues this morning [Tuesday] for the missing AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501, which is believed to have crashed into the Java Sea with 162 people on board.
The aircraft went missing on Sunday with 155 passengers, including 17 children and one baby, plus seven crew members.
Rescuers are only now reaching the site in the Java Sea where it is believed the aircraft may have entered the water.
Ships and planes from Indonesian and Malaysian military are being deployed to the area to help with the search.
"Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told a news conference in Jakarta, which was reported by the BBC.
The pilot contacted air traffic control at 06:24 local time Sunday asking permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m) to avoid the dense storm clouds. No distress signal was received from the Airbus A320-200 before it lost contact on its journey from Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 on Sunday and was due to arrive in Singapore.
