CANBERRA, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday evening and offered help on the search of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

A statement by the prime minister's press office quoted Abbott as saying that he was very sorry to hear of the tragedy of the Singapore-bound AirAsia passenger plane with 162 people aboard took off from Surabaya in Indonesia's East Java province Sunday morning and lost contact with air traffic control.

The prime minister also said there would be many Indonesian families who would be left bereft by this loss. The majority of the passengers and crew of the ill-fated aircraft are Indonesians.

"Australia would do whatever we humanly could to assist," Abbott was quoted as saying.

He also said Australia has a P3 Orion aircraft on standby to assist in the search.

The statement said President Widodo expressed his gratefulness for the call and the offer of assistance.

The President said he was conscious of the assistance Australia provided to the region and he had tasked his defense minister to speak to Australian Defense Minister Kevin Andrews to ascertain what assistance would be needed.