PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Malaysian Government will assist AirAsia to help find flight QZ8501, said Prime Minister Najib Razak.

He said what could be confirmed so far was that the Indonesian-owned aircraft went missing from the radar screens soon after departure.

"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 told a news conference after visiting the flood relief centre at Sekolah Menengah Padang Tengku.

Flight QZ8501 with 162 people on board lost contact with ground control on Sunday after takeoff from Surabaya, Indonesia en route to Singapore.

AirAsia said in a statement that the plane was an Airbus A320-200, adding that search and rescue operations were in progress.