Search continues for missing AirAsia Flight #8501

Yet another aircraft with a connection to Malaysia has disappeared from radar.

The search for the missing AirAsia plane and the 162 people on board is now resuming after being suspended due to darkness.

Flight #8501 lost contact with air-traffic control during a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore.

Rescue teams scoured the shallow waters of the Java Sea for over 10 hours, with no sign of the plane.

The CEO of AirAsia Tony Fernandes says it’s important to not jump to conclusions when it comes to the cause of the disappearance.

“We don’t want to speculate whether the weather was a contributing factor or not. We really don’t know, let’s find the aircraft and then we will do the proper investigation.”

According to AirAsia, the majority of passengers on board were from Indonesia, while others were residents from South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, France and the United Kingdom.

The flight had two pilots and five other crew members aboard.

The trip from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore usually takes 2 hours, the flight was expected to land Sunday morning.

Government officials had called off the search just before 3 a.m. local time Sunday, resumed it it in the evening..

This is the third Malaysian-linked flight to have vanished this year.

Malaysian Airlines Flight #370 and all of its passengers disappeared without a trace in March.

In July Malaysian Airlines Flight #17 and all 289 people on board were killed when the plane was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

7 ships and 2 helicopters will comb the Java Sea Sunday and India and Australia have also offered their assistance.

Officials are optimistic they will find some sort of debris.