BEIJING, Dec. 30 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a message of condolences to his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, over the crash of an AirAsia jetliner.

In the message, Xi said he was shocked by the news that AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 crashed en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, killing a large number of people including Indonesian nationals.

The president said that on behalf of the Chinese government and people, he expressed his profound sympathy to Indonesia over the tragic incident.

Xi also voiced deep grief to all victims on board the plane and sincere condolences to their families.

QZ8501 vanished from the radar screen 42 minutes after taking off from Surabaya, Indonesia, on Sunday.

The Airbus 320-200 carried 162 people, including 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Malaysia, Singapore, Britain and France.

Earlier in the day, Indonesian authorities confirmed that rescuers have spotted objects and corpses from the missing plane.