In pics: Anxious relatives await information on flight QZ8501

In the third such incident this year following Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and MH17, AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Indonesia's Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board lost contact with air traffic control early Sunday morning. Anxious relatives thronged the crisis centre at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, to find out the status of the missing jetliner.

A relative of a passenger on board AirAsia flight QZ8501weeps as she waits for the latest news on the missing jetliner at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, on Sunday. (AP Photo)

Family members of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ8501 wait for information inside a crisis centre at Juanda Airport in Surabaya. (Reuters Photo)

Family members of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ 8501 talk on their phones while waiting for information inside the crisis centre in Juanda Airport. (Reuters Photo)

Relatives of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ 8501 look at a passenger list inside a crisis centre at Juanda Airport in Surabaya. (Reuters Photo)

People walk past a sign board instructing relatives and next-of-kin to gather at a holding area at the Changi International Airport where AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Surabaya was scheduled to land. (AP Photo)

An airport official checks a map of Indonesia at the crisis center set up by local authority for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, on Sunday. (AP Photo)

A flight information signboard shows the status of AirAsia flight QZ 8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore at Changi Airport in Singapore. (Reuters Photo)