South Korea's foreign ministry said Sunday that three South Koreans were on board an AirAsia plane that vanished en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.
   
The ministry said that a South Korean man and a woman in their 30s and an infant were among the 162 passengers and crew members aboard AirAsia flight QZ8501 that lost contact with Jakarta's air traffic control after takeoff early Sunday.
  
Local media said that contact with the Airbus A320-200 passenger plane was lost 42 minutes after takeoff following the pilot asking flight controllers for a course change to avoid inclement weather in the plane's path. This raised speculation that bad weather may have played a part in the plane's disappearance, because the jet seems to have been flying normally.
   
The foreign ministry said it convened an emergency meeting to address the issue, adding that it will monitor progress in the search operations for the missing plane.
   
"The Seoul government plans to closely watch related authorities' search operations and will dispatch a rapid response team to Surabaya today," Lee Jeong-gwan, ambassador for overseas Koreans and consular affairs, said at the opening of the meeting.
   
The team will be made up of South Korea's consulate general and two diplomats assigned to its Indonesian embassy. One or two more staffers may be sent to the area soon.
   
Lee said the foreign ministers of Indonesia and Australia contacted Seoul earlier in the day and expressed their condolences for the South Korean nationals aboard the jet.
   
The official added that while the situation remained fluid, and that no one is confirming that the plane has crashed, the government is contemplating sending South Korean military assets to the region to help with the search, and may send an investigator to Indonesia to examine why the plane disappeared.
  
Both the sending of military assets that may be in the form of a maritime reconnaissance plane and taking part in the investigation will be contingent upon approval from Jakarta. 
 
Malaysia-based AirAsia is the largest low-cost carrier in the Asia-Pacific region, but Indonesia would be responsible for the search and investigation if the plane crashed in its territory.

Indonesia called off the search for the jet after night fell in the region.
   
On the three South Koreans, the foreign ministry said they are probably a family and that their relatives in the country have been contacted. It said they may have left for Indonesia a few months ago, with those around them saying they planned to stay in the Southeast Asian country.
   
"It is not clear why they were on the plane," another ministry source said.
   
He said that if any relatives of the missing want to go to Indonesia, the government will provide assistance.
  
He added that with aircraft incidents, it may take a long time for things to be sorted out, but the ministry will keep the public informed of any new developments. Authorities have yet to confirm whether the plane crashed or where the wreckage is.
   
Related to the South Korean nationals, minister Kim Sung-cheon, the pastor of a church in Yeosu, 455 kilometers south of Seoul, confirmed that the missing man was 37-year-old Park Sung-bum and that he was sent to Indonesia as a Christian missionary. He added that the missing woman is Lee Kyung-hwa, 36, and that the two are a couple.
   
The child has been identified as the couple's 11-month-old daughter, Yu-na.
   
"Park was sent as a layman missionary," Kim said. Others at the church said Park had been a computer teacher in Cambodia for four years before returning home, where he married his wife. He had been sent to Indonesia some two months ago with his family. 
   
Park, a graduate of a theology school, has been described as devout, having been a part of the church since childhood.
   
The Yeosu church and the organization that helped Park stay in the Southeast Asian country will hold a meeting to discuss the incident. (Yonhap)