We just couldn't escape 2014 without just one more unfortunate airline tragedy. The Associated Press reports that a Singapore-bound AirAsia plane, Flight 8501, lost communication with ground control while flying over the Java Sea, an hour before it was supposed to land.
Jakarta's air traffic control lost contact with the Airbus 320-200 around 11:24pm GMT (or 7:24pm EST). On board was a crew of seven and 155 passengers of French, South Korean, Malaysian, and (predominantly) Indonesian. Later, AirAsia confirmed via Facebook that the plane deviated from its course due to weather.
#AirAsia:Before communication was lost with Flight 8501, aircraft asked to deviate from planned route due to weather. http://t.co/dCKXKjdLlq
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) December 28, 2014
Unlike the mysterious cause behind MH370's disappearance and the regrettably violent actions that brought down MH17, the most likely cause (though unconfirmed) is severe weather. Just take a look at this hellish weather map at the time of the disappearance:
Satellite image around time #AirAsia flight went missing, very vigorous thunderstorms (black) north of Surabaya http://pic.twitter.com/w8jSzfzvmi
— James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV) December 28, 2014
Other unconfirmed reports mention that wreckage has been recovered from the plane, but AirAsia has made no comment as of yet.
developing...
*
from Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/airasia-plane-goes-missing-over-indonesia-with-162-peop-1675724248
via http://gizmodo.com/airasia-plane-goes-missing-over-indonesia-with-162-peop-1675724248
Blogger Comment