Indonesia Officials Say AirAsia Plane Likely At Bottom of Sea

Officials in Indonesia announced Monday that the AirAsia commercial flight that went missing Sunday morning is likely at the bottom of the sea.

The AirAsia flight 8501 lost contact with traffic control Sunday morning over the Java Sea while travelling from Indonesia to Singapore. Authorities are now saying that their belief that the plane's remains are at the bottom of the sea is a "preliminary suspicion" based on the plane's coordinates and possible crash position when it made the request to climb 35,000 feet due to stormy weather.

On Monday, the search continued for the commercial airliner that had been carrying 162 passengers and crew when it went missing from radar. Search helicopters reported seeing two oily patches in the sea near where the plane may have crashed, while another search crew reported seeing possible objects floating in the Java Sea.

Some are comparing the recent downing of the AirAsia flight to the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 earlier this year. The plane disappeared traveling from Malaysia to China over the South China Sea.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday that he doesn't think the disappearance of MH370 can be compared to the disappearance of AirAsia 8501.

"MH370, as things stand, is one of the great mysteries of our time. It doesn't appear that there's any particular mystery here. It's an aircraft that was flying a regular route on a regular schedule, it struck what appears to have been horrific weather, and it's down. But this is not a mystery like the MH370 disappearance and it's not an atrocity like the MH17 shooting down," Abbott said.