MANILA, Philippines—In a show of solidarity, Malaysia Airlines offered its support to AirAsia Sunday through social media as the search for the missing QZ8501 flight from Indonesia bound for Singapore continues.
On its official Twitter account, Malaysia Airlines urged the low-cost carrier to “stay strong.”
“#staystrong @AirAsia – Our thoughts and prayers are with all family and friends of those on board QZ8501,” the Malaysian flag-carrier tweeted.
The tweet has since been retweeted more than 5,000 times and favorite by more than 1,000 users.
Malaysia Airlines suffered the same fate as flight MH370 bound to Beijing, China from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was reported missing last March. The said flight carried 239 people.
After an extensive search, the Malaysian government said that MH370 crashed in the “southern Indian Ocean.” The plane and its passengers, however, have yet to be found.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia at 5:35 a.m. (Surabaya local time) and eventually lost contact with air traffic control at 7:24 a.m.
The said flight was supposed to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m.
In its latest statement, AirAsia revealed that the captain of the plane asked deviation due to “enroute weather” before the aircraft lost contact.
The said AirAsia flight carried 155 passengers and seven crew members.
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