Flight Security

30 December 2014 Last updated at 04:32 GMT

AirAsia QZ8501: Smoke spotted in search for missing plane

The new search zone covers 13 areas over sea and land

Indonesian officials say they are sending teams to investigate reports of smoke on an island in the area where AirAsia flight QZ8501 has gone missing.

The multinational search for the plane has entered a third day, with the operation area now widened to cover 13 zones over land and sea.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday.

The pilot's last contact was a request to divert around bad weather.

Indonesian officials say air traffic control had approved one request, to veer left, then gave clearance to a second request for permission to climb two to three minutes later.

No reply was received and the plane then disappeared from radar. No trace has yet been found.

Dozens of planes and ships are now patrolling an area expanded far beyond the airliner's original flight path

Countries around the region as well as the US, France and Australia have joined the search over the Java sea.

On Tuesday, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue officials in Banka Belitung province told the BBC they were deploying teams to investigate reports of "billowing smoke" on Long Island, just south of Belitung island, inside the search zone…

Read more at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30626734