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Search resumes for missing Malaysian AirAsia passenger aircraft

Three Malaysian Navy vessels, and two vessels and a military transport aircraft of Singapore take part in search and rescue operation in the Java Sea

SINGAPORE, December 29. /TASS/. Indonesian military have resumed search for the Malaysian passenger aircraft, which went missing over the Java Sea on Sunday less than an hour after the take-off, Indonesian media reported on Monday.

The search and rescue operation, suspended over the nightfall, is expected to be joined by rescue services from the countries bordering on Indonesia. Malaysia is sending three Navy vessels, while Singapore dispatches two vessels and a military transport aircraft.

Australia, the United States, Canada, Britain, South Korea and India earlier also offered their help in search and rescue operation.

Indonesian air traffic control service lost contact with Airbus A320-200 on Sunday afternoon. The jet belonged to Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia and it was en route from Surabaya, the second largest Indonesian city, to Singapore. The contact was lost in the vicinity of the Borneo Island over the Java Sea over 40 minutes after the take-off.

The initial search for the passenger jet was launched in the area of Belitung, an island off the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, in the Java Sea, but was later suspended due to the nightfall.

AirAsia Airline reported that Airbus A320-200 was carrying a total of 162 people, including 155 passengers, with 17 children among them, two pilots, a flight engineer and four stewards.

The airline also reported that among the people on board of the missing aircraft 155 are Indonesian citizens, three South Koreans, a British citizen, a Malaysian citizen, a Singaporean and a French second pilot.