A passenger plane with 155 passengers and six crew members lost contact with air traffic control late yesterday, Reuters has reported. The AirAsia flight originated from the Indonesian city of Surabaya and was heading for Singapore, the newswire said.

It quoted Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa as saying that the aircraft, flight number QZ 8501, lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17 a.m local time. (Sunday morning in Indonesia but Saturday night in Nigeria).

The Airbus 320-200 had 155 passengers and crew on board, another Indonesian Transport official said, according to Reuters.

Mustofa said the plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.

The flight had been due in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. Singapore time (0030 GMT). The Singapore airport said on its website the status of the flight was “delayed”.