DHAKA: Ships and planes have resumed searching for a passenger jet that went missing on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board.

First Admiral Sigit Setiayana, the Naval Aviation Center Commander at the Surabaya air force base, said on Monday that 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were searching an area of east and southeast of Indonesia's Belitung island and nearby waters, reports Al-Jazeera

Malaysia, Singapore and Australia have joined the operation.

Setiaya says visibility was good.

"God willing, we can find it soon,'' Setiayana told The Associated Press.

The only public indication of the grim wait for news at Changi International Airport on Sunday was the dozens of media gathered outside the Relatives Holding Area on the third floor of Terminal Two.

As relatives and friends arrived they were swiftly ushered inside, away from the prying questions of the media by airport officials.

But one woman told us she was the fiancée of a passenger who'd gone to Surabaya to see his family before coming back to Singapore to get married.

As people entered and left, cameras flashed and reporters rushed to get the very latest news.

The Airbus A320-200, went missing after air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft around an hour after it left Juanda international airport at Surabaya in East Java at 5:20am on Sunday (22:20 GMT Saturday).

Shortly before disappearing, AirAsia said pilots of the plane had asked permission from Jakarta air traffic control to change course and climb above bad weather in an area noted for severe thunderstorms.

The airline, giving a revised breakdown of nationalities, said 155 of those on board Flight QZ8501 were Indonesians, with three South Koreans and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia, Britain and France.

"We have focused all our strength, from the search and rescue agency, the military, police and help from the community as well as the fishermen," rescue agency chief F.H.B. Soelistyo told a press conference on Sunday.

With hard details few and far between, panicked relatives gathered at Singapore's Changi airport.

In Surabaya hundreds of Indonesians descended on the terminal, hoping for news.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo said his nation was "praying for the safety" of those onboard.

The aircraft was operated by AirAsia Indonesia, a unit of Malaysian-based AirAsia which dominates Southeast Asia's booming low-cost airline market.

AirAsia said the missing jet last underwent maintenance on November 16. The company has never suffered a fatal accident.

** Search for plane lost in bad weather halts

BDST: 0835 HRS, DEC 29, 2014