UPDATED - Briton among passengers on missing airliner may be from Hull

Chi-Man Choi, boss of Alstom Power, was born in Hull but is thought to have been living in Singapore for the last few years.

He, along with his two-year-old daughter Zoe, were listed on the flight’s passenger manifest, which has been released to media by the airline.

Mr Choi is one of more than 150 people on flight QZ8501, Trikora Raharjo, the general manager of the airport, told The Associated Press.

However AirAsia released a statement listing the nationalities of passengers and crew as Indonesian, South Korean, Singaporean, Malaysian and French.

The Foreign Office said it is investigating whether a Briton was on board.

“We are aware of reports of an incident regarding Air Asia flight QZ 8501,” a spokesman said.

“Our thoughts are with the passengers’ families as they await further news. We are aware of reports of a British national on board and are liaising urgently with the local authorities to establish further details”.

The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control at 7.24am local time (00.24 GMT), the company said, having taken off almost two hours earlier.

The airline said 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, and seven crew, including two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer, were on the flight.

AirAsia’s chief executive is Tony Fernandes, who also owns Premier League football team Queens Park Rangers.

He tweeted: “Thank you for all your thoughts and prays. we must stay strong.”

AirAsia said in a statement on its Facebook page: “At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of The Indonesia of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). AirAsia Indonesia is co-operating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way.”

“The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to enroute weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control (ATC).”

The airline said family or friends of those who may have been on the aircraft can phone their emergency call centre on 00 622129850801.

The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control at 7.24am local time, having taken off almost two hours earlier.

The airline said 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, and seven crew, including two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer, were on the flight.