Search efforts are underway for an AirAsia A-320 
passenger jet carrying 162 people that vanished tonight en route from Indonesia to Singapore. The plane lost contact with controllers 42 minutes after takeoff while over the Java Sea. An Indonesian Transportation Ministry official said the pilots asked to deviate to “an unusual route” because of heavy thunderstorms. The plane’s bright red paint job should make spotting floating debris easy, and recovering black boxes will be easy, too, because the Java Sea is very shallow, averaging 150 feet deep. (File photo)