Operation Continues To Locate Missing Aircraft

SUBANG (Selangor, Malaysia), Dec 30 (Bernama) -- The operation at the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), which is assisting in the search and rescue (SAR) operation for the missing AirAsia Indonesia aircraft, flight QZ8501, at the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control centre, here, continued at 7am Monday. Bernama learned that the Department of Civil Aviation has so far received no new information on the location of the aircraft and that the SAR operation was ongoing. A spokesman of the department could not furnish any information on the operation as it was being handled by Indonesia, and urged the media and public to relay only valid news to avoid public confusion. The Indonesian air control centre lost contact with the aircraft at 7.24am Sunday in its airspace while en route to Singapore from Surabaya. The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers comprising 138 adults, 16 children and a baby, other than two pilots and five crew members. Subsequently, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Malaysia had mobilised three ships and a C130 Hercules aircraft to help in the SAR operation. -- BERNAMA