Rescue Teams Have Spotted Objects In The Water In The AirAsia Plane Search Area

REUTERS/Enny NuraheniAn Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-200 passenger prepares to land at Sukarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta January 30, 2013.

Australian search and rescue planes have spotted objects in the sea within the search area for the missing AirAsia plane, an Indonesian official has said.

It's not yet clear what the objects are. Officials have not said whether it's wreckage from the missing plane.

The search for AirAsia flight QZ8501 is in its second day. The plane went missing during a flight from Indonesia to Singapore shortly after asking to deviate from its planned flight path because of bad weather.

The flight crew lost contact with air traffic control at about 6:17 a.m. on Sunday, about halfway through the flight, and the plane is thought to have crashed near the Indonesian island of Belitung.

The missing plane is an Airbus A320-200, a popular and generally reliable model. The plane is about six years old and is operated by AirAsia's Indonesian affiliate, which the Malaysia-based company holds a 48.9% stake in, CNN reports. 

155 Indonesians are on board the missing plane, along with three people from South Korea, and one from Singapare, Britain, Malaysia, and France. Of those passengers, 16 are children and one is an infant.

Crews have been searching for the plane in the vicinity of its planned flight path:

Reuters