JAKARTA/SINGAPORE/SYDNEY, Dec. 29 -- Search and rescue operation for an AirAsia plane that went missing on Sunday with 162 people on board resumed on Monday morning, rescuers in Indonesia said.

"Some plane and helicopters have moved to the waters where the jetliner was believed to have lost since 05:30 a.m. Jakarta time," Ahmad Toha, official in charge at the National Search and Rescue Agency, told Xinhua by phone.

The operation was halted at 17:00 p.m. Jakarta time on Sunday due to darkness at the highly suspected area on the waters near the Bangka Belitung islands.

"The agency has broadcast information to ships that were passing through the waters to join in monitoring the seas and asked them to report whether they found any signs of crash," said Toha.

A search and rescue operation was launched Sunday involving Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia near Bangka Belitung islands in the Java Sea over which the jetliner lost contact with ground traffic control.

The army will conduct search on land around the scene where the plane was believed to go missing, said Djoko Murjatmodjo, director general of air transport of Indonesian Transport Ministry.

Flight QZ8501 lost contact with the ground after the air traffic control consented to the pilot's request to change flight route but it did not approve the request to raise its height to 34, 000 feet (10,303 meters), Murjatmodjo added.

According to him, the aircraft, which sent no distress signal, must have run out its fuel if it kept flying.

Also on Monday, Singapore deployed another Air Force (RSAF) C- 130 aircraft, the formidable-class frigate (RSS Supreme) and missile corvette (RSS Valour), to aid in the operation.

A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) AP-3C Orion took off from the northern city of Darwin early Monday to help in the task, the Australian Defense Force said.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called Indonesian President Joko Widodo, pledging to assist Indonesia in the search.

The Airbus A320, which set off Sunday morning from Surabaya in Indonesia's East Java province, was about halfway to Singapore when it vanished from radar. The jet had been airborne for about 42 minutes.

There were 155 passengers and seven crew members on board the flight.