Search for AirAsia QZ8501 - live updates

All updates in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC)

09:22 After the Australian plane reported seeing objects in the sea, an Indonesian helicopter reports spotting two oil slicks hundreds of miles away. It wasn't immediately clear whether either were connected to the missing AirAsia plane.

Aircraft and/or warships from Indonesia, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia are involved in the search. China and the United States have also offered assistance.

07:34 The Associated Press quotes an Indonesian official who says that Australian plane has spotted objects in the sea in the AirAsia search area.

04:20 China offers to send aircraft and ships to help in the search for a missing AirAsia plane, joining aircraft and ships from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

02:50 The head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency tells journalists on Monday that the AirAsia plane missing with 162 people on board has likely sunk as wreckage in the Java Sea. Bambang Soelistyo says that Indonesia does not have "the tools," such as submersible vehicles, that would be needed to retrieve the plane from the seabed.

"Due to the lack of technology that we have, I have coordinated with our foreign minister so we will borrow from other countries which have offered. They are the UK, France and US," he says.

23:00 Sunday (6 a.m. local time) Indonesia resumes its search at dawn on Monday around Belitung island and nearby waters, close to the plane's last-known radar location. First Admiral Sigit Setiayana, commander at Indonesia's Naval Aviation Center at the Surabaya air force base, tells the Associated Press that 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and several warships are searching to the east and southeast of Belitung island and in nearby waters.

The search and rescue operation had been suspended at nightfall Sunday.

The Airbus A320-200 was carrying 162 people, 155 of whom were Indonesians was reported missing at 6:18 local time on Sunday morning. The airline said three South Koreans and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain were also onboard. A Frenchman was also working on the plane as co-pilot.

Sunday's incident comes in the wake of two major air disasters in the past 10 months, both of which struck another Asian carrier, Malaysia Airlines.

rg/pfd (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)