AirAsia Flight's Altitude Request Was Refused

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Pilots of the AirAsia plane thought to have crashed in the Java Sea were refused permission to climb higher to avoid a storm, according to Indonesia's air travel chief.

Joko Muryo Atmodjo said Flight QZ8501 had asked to ascend from 32,000ft (9,753m) to 38,000ft (11,582m) but controllers denied the request because of heavy air traffic.

Five minutes later the plane fell off the radar without sending any distress signal.

The aircraft had been on its way from Surabaya, on the Indonesian island of Java, to Singapore.

The search team's grim prediction is that the Airbus A320 is now "likely at the bottom of the sea".

Data from Flightradar24.com showed several other planes were between 34,000 to 36,000ft when it disappeared on Sunday morning.

Unconfirmed secondary radar from Malaysia suggests it was climbing at 100 knots too slow.

Pilot Ray Karam Singh, who is familiar with the route, told Sky News icy conditions at high altitudes might have caused the plane to stall.

He said: "As you climb higher the temperature gets colder ... the speed comes down – your margin of error is less."

Search teams have found "suspicious" objects 700 miles from where the plane disappeared but no link has been confirmed.

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Gallery: The Search For Missing AirAsia Plane

Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) personnel survey the waters, on board a C-130 Hercules, during a Search and Locate operation for the missing AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft

The jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said

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Countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search effort. According to the RSAF, two C-130 aircraft were deployed on Monday to join in the search

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Navy soldiers prepare food on the KRI Sultan Hasanuddin-366 warship before joining search operations at Batuampar port in Batam

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Indonesia's vice-president Jusuf Kalla (L) monitors progress during a visit to the National Search and Rescue Agency in Jakarta

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One Briton, Hull-born Chi Man Choi, and his two-year-old daughter Zoe, are understood to have been among the 162 people on board.

Mr Choi's wife and their other child had travelled back to Singapore on an earlier flight, according to Channel News Asia.

However, nearly all of the 162 passengers and crew on board were from Indonesia.

The daughter of the captain – named as Iryanto by the AP news agency - posted an emotional message on social media site Path.

"Papa, come home, I still need you …Bring back my papa. Papa, please come home," said 22-year-old Angela Anggi Ranastianis.

Dozens of people have gathered at the home of the former F-16 fighter pilot in the town of Sidoarjo.

"He is a good man. That's why people here appointed him as our neighbourhood chief for the last two years," said neighbour Bagianto Djoyonegoro.

Relatives of passengers have also been gathering at Indonesia's Surabaya airport, where a family crisis has been set up.

One man described how his daughter, Ruth Natalia Puspitasari, had showed concern for the families of people on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

She was on her way to Singapore with her fiance and future in-laws for a New Year's holiday and was set to celebrate her 26th birthday on Monday.

"Now she is gone in the missing plane, and we should face this sorrow, I can't believe it!" said Ms Puspitasari's father, Suyanto.

"I don't want to experience the same thing with what was happened with Malaysia Airlines. It could be a long suffering."

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Muke Nyerate