Kuala Lumpur, Dec 28 (IANS): The Malaysian government will assist AirAsia to help find the flight QZ8501 that went missing with 162 people on board Sunday, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"We are still waiting for more details on the incident," The Star quoted him as saying.

Najib said what could be confirmed so far was that the aircraft went missing from the radar screens, 42 minutes after it took off at 5.20 a.m. "This means the possibility of something untoward happening to the aircraft."

"That's all I know (about the incident) right now and we will assist in finding out what happened to the aircraft," he added.

The Malaysia-owned AirAsia aircraft took off at 5.20 a.m. from the Indonesian city of Surabaya and was to land at Singapore's Changi Airport at 8.30 a.m., media reports said.

The plane lost contact with the air traffic control somewhere between Kalimantan and Belitung island, an Indonesian transport ministry official said.