Sunday marks another dark time for a Southeast Asia airline. Officials announced their belief that AirAsia Flight 8501 is likely resting on the ocean floor off the Indonesian coast.

The AirAsia jet was carrying 162 passengers as it took off from Surabaya, Indonesia on its way to Singapore. Later Sunday, the jet disappeared in the midst of a brutal storm and dense clouds.

Even almost a day later the status of those aboard and the location of the Airbus A320 was unknown. Although its whereabouts remain a mystery, the evidence at hand has forced authorities to a grim conclusion. The head of Indonesia search and rescue, Henry Bambang Soelistyo, made an announcement at a news conference Sunday. Officials agreed there was little hope for passenger survival given the known coordinates of the flight when it vanished coupled with the weather conditions.

It was at 6:16 a.m. Sunday (23:16 GMT Saturday) that the jet was last seen on air-traffic control radar. A minute later it was gone. The last contact with the flight’s crew was five minutes earlier, at 6:12 a.m., when a pilot requested an increase in altitude. The Indonesian Transportation Ministry officially reported the flight missing at 7:55 a.m., Jakarta time.

Monday morning, search and rescue teams from several countries, in planes and ships, were still spread out about the Indonesia sea hunting for any trace of the jet. Although Sunday’s abounding rains and steady winds made the search an uphill battle, the conditions finally cleared up Monday, allowing good visibility. Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia are all cooperating in the urgent search.

Although the airline industry certainly has its share of tragedies, the vanishing of Flight 8501 is the third in a line of devastating events for aviation in Southeast Asia.

This uniquely difficult year for air travel in the region began in March when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing with 239 people aboard. The cause of that flight’s disappearance remains a mystery. Then, in July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine amid that country’s conflict with Russia over control of the Crimean region.

Regarding the cause of this latest disappearance, AirAsia’s CEO has publicly stated his opposition to speculation. Instead, he has asked the focus be on the families of the missing passengers and the search for possible survivors.

Before this, the airline had never lost a plane and reportedly maintained a clean safety record. Also, the pilot, who goes by one name, Iryanto, had logged over 20,000 hours of flight experience,

An aviation expert in Indonesia sees the pilot’s high level of experience as a reason to consider potential problems with the aircraft itself. Although the type of storm clouds the flight was facing are known to be very dangerous for aircraft, pilots with Iryanto’s experience are usually able to navigate around them.

While it is believed that the Airbus A320 was trying to do just that by circling above the sea, the jet did not send an emergency signal to aviation authorities. A device called an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) which is standard on commercial jets is supposed to send an electronic signal to flight safety officials.

Hanna Simatupang, a former investigator at Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), went as far as to blame the airline industry in the country, speculating that profit is more of a priority than safety. While that may be the case, weather experts agree that Indonesia’s storms can be especially far-reaching. The cumulonimbus clouds that are typical of thunderstorms can be found as high up as 50,000 feet in the Indonesian airspace, 10,000 feet higher than averages elsewhere.

At the Surabaya airport where Flight 8501 took off, the families of the missing passengers have gathered. As the search continues, despite the grim predictions, they eagerly await any word on the fate of their relatives.