A British national on board the missing Air Asia flight is reportedly a University of Essex graduate.
Chi Man Choi, who is believed to have been on the QZ8501 flight with his two-year-old daughter, were returning from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 others when the plane disappeared in the early hours of this morning (December 27).
Mr Choi is reportedly from Hull and was the managing director of an energy company in Indonesia.
There were 155 passengers, including 16 children and one baby, and seven crew members on the Airbus A320-200.
The plane lost contact with air traffic control while over the Java sea almost two hours after take off, at 06.24 local time (23.24 GMT) and vanished shortly afterwards. It had been scheduled to arrive at Chandi Airport in Sinagpore at 08.30GMT
But it requested a "deviation" from its planned flight path due to bad weather.
A search of the Java Sea is now under way, following reports that a wreckage had been sighted off the east coast of Samutra, hundreds of miles from where the plane was last seen.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We are aware of an incident regarding AirAsia flight QZ8501.
"Our thoughts are with the passengers' families as they await further news.
"We have been informed by the local authorities that one British national was on board.
"Their next of kin has been informed, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance."
