The Indonesian transport ministry has confirmed that the search for missing AirAsia flight QZ 8501 has been stood down for the night.
The flight was en route from Surabaya to Singapore when it lost contact with the air traffic control tower at 11.24pm after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather.
The search for the plane, which was carrying over 160 passengers, was halted for the night due to poor conditions and will be resumed in the morning.
“We ended at 5:30 pm (10.30am GMT) because it was getting dark. The weather was also not too good as it was getting really cloudy,” official Hadi Mustofa told AFP.
