Louise Sidharta, 25, from Indonesia, could not wait to see her fiancée Alain, 27, and enjoy one last vacation before their wedding in May. She heard about missing Air Asia flight QZ8501 on her way to the airport.
“I heard it on the radio and immediately browsed the Internet and saw the news,” she said. “My heart knew by then that my fiance was on that flight.”
Louise arrived at the airport with her sister and other relatives. They made their way to a special holding room for people with relatives on QZ8501.
“We had planned to marry in May next year,” she said. “We are not thinking negatively right now. We are only having positive thoughts.”
Alain, an entrepreneur, was with his parents and three brothers on the flight from Surabaya. The pilot asked air traffic control if he could fly the plane at 38,000 feet due to bad weather. The line cut off and an hour later, the air traffic controllers realized they lost contact. They received no distress call and do not know the location of the plane.
Indonesia launched three aircraft with a surveillance plane around Belitung Island. Authorities called off the search when night fell. Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, and the United States offered to help.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.