hello, i'm lucy hockings with "bbc world news." our top stories. search teams looking for the missing airasia plane find oily patches and objects in the sea, but they can't confirm they're linked to the aircraft. officials say at least five people have been killed in the fire onboard a car ferry, which was traveling from greece to italy. >> translator: possibly there's a discrepancy between the list and the people onboard. that can happen from time to time, that there could be some other people, possibly some illegal immigrants as well. a snap general election is called in greece after the country's parliament fails to elect a new president.

and 160,000 people are forced from their homes by flooding in malaysia. the search teams looking for the missing asia air passenger plane say they've spotted the first potential signs of wreckage. an indonesian helicopter has seen two oily spots in the search area, and an australian search plane has spotted objects hundreds of miles away. it is still too early to know whether either sighting is connected to the missing aircraft. the search is centered on the java sea off the coast of sumatra. it's now been called off for the night. the plane's last known position is in this area and you can see the total search area has been divided into several sections. well, the plane was flying from

surabaya airport in indonesia all the way up to singapore. it's a flight which should have taken just two hours. in the last hour, indonesia's vice president gave us this update. >> 30 ship operations in this area and 50 airplane and helicopters. the operation in the sea, especially in bad weather like this, but the president's instructions to all our people is to do the best and fast and no limit to find the plane and the passengers, of course. >> the indonesian authorities have held some briefings for those who had relatives or friends onboard. the bbc has spoken to the father of the plane's pilot. he explained that he only saw his son a week ago at the funeral of another of his

children. >> translator: i want my son to come back alive and well. but if that's not meant to be, if god doesn't want that, it's in the hands of fate. my son, he's not alone on the plane. if this is god's will, then so be it. >> such a difficult time for friends and family right now. let's take you to jakarta. we can join the bbc. has the search been completely called off now or are there still some boats out there looking? >> well, lucy, what we've been told just in the last half an hour or so by the head of indonesia's search and rescue agency is that the air search has been called off for the evening. it's now nighttime here in indonesia. and the search will continue. it will resume for day three, at

first light, early tomorrow. but there are some boats still out in the area, in the java sea souring for any sign of this missing airline. it's now been more than 36 hours. search and rescue teams have been on ships, they've been on airplanes, he's even told fishermen in the area to report back anything that they've seen that could help them find some sign of where this plane has begun. >> it seems that joko widodo has taken a very personal interest in this particular situation. he's already been to the search and rescue operation center. what's he had to say. >> well, lucy, the indonesian president was at the crisis center, the search and rescue headquarters here in central jakarta just about an hour ago, and he briefed the country in a live press conference, saying that his thoughts were with the

relatives of those onboard the missing airplane. of course, remember the majority of people in this airline are indonesian citizens, so this is a huge tragedy for this country. all of the efforts are being made to ensure that whatever happened to this plane will be found out. >> thanks for updating us from jakarta there. what's feared to have happened to the flight, just how safe is air travel? it may surprise you to learn that despite several high-profile losses of life, many experts feel that we've been going through the safest ever period in aviation history. although there have been 761 deaths in 2014 compared to 265 in 2013. that rise comes after a long downward trend. malaysia airlines you'll remember well suffered two disasters. the first in march 2012 when mh370 disappeared en route to beijing.

no trace of that plane has yet been found. if we can take you back to july 2014, that was when the malaysia airlines flight 17 was shot down over ukraine. all 290 people onboard were killed. just a few days later, a transasia airways flight crashed in taiwan. 48 of the 58 people onboard died in that incident. and a day later, all 116 people onboard an air algerie flight from burkina faso to algeria were killed when the flight went down in bad weather. despite some of these grim statistics, though, air travel is still extremely safe. in 2013, the accident rate was 0.24 out of one million departures. that actually means less than one accident for every four million flights. earlier, i spoke to an independent air accident investigator based in manchester, and he says that while some people believe that air travel safety is getting worse, that is truly not the case.

>> the reality is we've been making a lot of improvements over time. new technology is helping. we train pilots much better now in working together as a team rather than the captain being the authoritative figure on the flight deck that the first officer has to bow down to, so you can challenge decisions made by the captain. we're making better infrastructure around the world. so yes, everything is beginning to get better. but obviously when you start to add in statistics, when we shoot down airplanes deliberately, it starts to affect the general statistics. >> what about the missing malaysia airlines flight, though. does it still feel like it hangs over the industry, the fact that we don't know it happened? >> yes, we don't know what happened, but i think the industry is quite confident that we'll find the airplane reasonably soon. we've got very good search technology down in the southern indian ocean. and it's looking for it, and i'm sure that they'll find it reasonably soon. >> and in terms of the current situation at the moment, we've

just heard that some oil spots have been seen in the sea. other debris perhaps spotted in the ocean. hundreds of miles away. what should we make of that at this point? >> i think we just have to be very open-minded at this point. finding slicks in the sea is quite common, with ships emptying their bilge tanks and things like that. so we do get a lot of oil slicks that get reported in the sea when we start these types of wide area searches. there's something that has to be looked at. they'll sample the oil if they can. if it's diesel, from a ship or heavy tar oil, then we'll know fairly quickly if it's kerosene. and then, an extraordinary distance away, the australians have seen something suspicious. again, hopefully they'll get some ships to pick those bits up. but it can take quite a period of time. but the wreckage should float for about ten days, we hope. >> we will keep you across all the developments there. but for now, let's take you to greece because the coast guard has confirmed that the number of people killed onboard a car ferry which caught fire while sailing for italy has risen now

to five. italian prime minister matteo renzi told a press conference that about 60 passengers are still onboard. it's hard to be exact because they could be illegal migrants among those who are stranded. it was traveling from western greece to up here in italy when it ran into trouble near the island of corfu. this is what mr. renzi had to say. >> translator: i looked at the various messages and i was thinking about dedicated these people were and also, you know that there were other interventions at sea, and of course, it's a very difficult and painful situation and i'd like to express my concerns to the people. so our men really have carried out this work with a lot of

passion and have managed to avoid an appalling situation and i'm very grateful. and i'd like to express my gratitude in the name of all the italians, whatever their political opinion is. hence during the day, of course, more information will be given by the ministers, who have responsibility with regard to the military marine and the ports, and so they were responsible for these rescue operations and they will have a press conference at the end of the afternoon to give you all the details with regard to the operation, so there are about 60 people that are on the embarkation list, that still must be saved, possibly there will be more, possibly there's

discrepancy between the list and the people who are onboard, and that can happen from time to time, that there could be some other people, possibly some illegal immigrants as well. >> the italian prime minister speaking there in the past few hours or so. with the details on how the disaster has been unfolding, here is joe inwood. >> reporter: more than 24 hours after the fire broke out, the first group of survivors arrive in italy. 49 made it to the italian port. nearly three times their number remain stranded in the adriatic. it's thought it got into trouble when a fire broke out on a car deck before dawn on sunday. smoke and flames envelope large parts of the ship. passengers fled to the rising heat, only to find themselves enduring freezing temperatures above deck. from there, many of them called their families, who have had an anxious wait. >> it's very hard. it's very, very difficult.

and i just hope and pray that they all get off soon, because it isn't -- it's very difficult for families. my daughters have been up with me all night, just trying to find out a bit of news, and trying to see what we could do, but we can't do anything. >> her son was one of at least four britons rescued by greek and italian authorities. official footage shows the slow but steady process. more than 300 have now been winched off the ship. >> we are in the process of establishing the conditions of the passengers. the chief of the rescue operation has informed us that they are in good health, but we obviously need to confirm the state of health of all the passengers to be able to determine whether they need to be hospitalized or whether it is enough to look after them in a mini center that we have set up here. so for now, we are waiting to have news of the condition of every single passenger.

>> reporter: the italian authorities say they are now confident the rescue operation will be completed by night fall, as a criminal investigation gets under way. at least one passenger died trying to escape. many more are in hospital being treated for hypothermia. the result of hours stranded in the freezing adriatic, as the ship beneath them burned. joe inwood, bbc news. the greek prime minister has called a general election for the 25th of january after parliament failed to back his candidate for president. applause broke out, as you can hear, as the result was being read out. after three rounds of voting, they failed to win the majority needed to secure the vote. the government now has ten days to dissolve parliament. do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come, 160,000 people are forced from their homes in malaysia after heavy flooding. we'll bring you the details.

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let's get more on our top story, the missing airasia plane. within the last hour the indonesian president joko widodo has been speaking from the headquarters of the national search and rescue agency in jakarta. he urged his people to pray for the safety of the passengers and crew. >> translator: i was shocked and i could feel the worry and sadness of the families of the passengers and the crews. which is felt by all indonesian people. i immediately instructed the head of the national search and rescue agency to find the plane. the indonesian military police and transport ministry are also helping. i have instructed the vice president to coordinate the search. but so far, we have to tell it

as it is. we do not know where the plane is. we asked for the strength and patience for all the families of the passengers and crew. >> with me now is my colleague from the bbc's indonesian service. >> it is for the first time for the president to issue a statement on the missing plane, which gone yesterday morning local time. yes. but the government has been deploying resources, national agencies to try to find out where the plane is. >> it was a pretty heartfelt statement that he made. obviously everyone is thinking of the friends and family at the moment. but to hear from the president, to use such emotional language that's unusual. >> it is. he used the word like shocked. but also he shares the sadness of the family, the family of the passengers and all the crews. as i said, it was the first --

he is operating christmas in the eastern part of indonesia in the last two days. >> we were hearing earlier that the air search operation in terms of the air search operation has been called off now. did we hear any other details from the president about what they're planning to do tomorrow and what resources they're committing? >> well, in his first press conference, he says about asking the national agencies like transport ministry, police, military, and also he will receive assistance from a couple of countries like the uk and malaysia, south korea, and singapore to help finding the missing plane. >> thanks for updating us. more than 160,000 people in malaysia have been forced to evacuate their homes and at least eight people are dead following the country's worst floods in decades. one of the worst-hit areas,

large areas have been cut off from electricity for days. some residents are frustrated by the pace of the government's relief effort. the bbc's jennifer pack has spoken to one man who is delivering aid all on his own. >> reporter: 60% is without electricity. phones aren't always working here. authorities say that it's been very difficult to assess just how many people need their help and where exactly. so malaysians have been turning to each other. hakeem and his brother have brought supplies all the way from kuala lumpur. >> the moment i reach here, i've been getting calls from my friends asking me to go and help their families who are stranded and that's where we are going now. >> reporter: this family has been living without electricity for four days.

one of the brothers was forced out of his house after water levels came up to his chest. >> whether they have enough food, whether they have enough medication, drinks, water supplies, anything. nobody come and check. nobody from the authorities. nobody from the government. >> so are you surprised that you managed to get in then? >> yes, i'm surprised. they said this place is not accessible. they say the bridge is still closed. and as you can see, it's not closed. it's accessible. so this information, even the people at the center, the coordination center, it's not aware of. >> it's nighttime now and electricity is patchy, even here in the city, so that's why we've got to come back. but you still have more supplies you want to deliver. who is it for tomorrow? >> just friends and i've got all -- i've delivered to all friends. whoever is in need, i can just give it to them.

i just received another call, a message from a friend just now, saying that her grandmother, they need more supplies, they don't have electricity, water, food. so maybe i'll just go there tomorrow and distribute. >> reporter: some families in malaysia feel the only way to survive these floods is to lean on each other. >> the worst flooding they've had there in years. let's bring you up to date with some other news. south korea has offered to restart high-level talks with north korea next month. the south korean unification minister said he hoped pyongyang would respond to his offer to discuss mutual concerns, including a reunion of families separated during the korean war more than 60 years ago. 37 children whose parents were killed in the recent israel-gaza conflict have been stopped by hamas from visiting israel. the children, aged between 12 and 15, were on a trip organized by peace activists. they were turned back.

more than 2,000 people, mostly palestinians, died in the 50-day conflict in july and august. the authorities in bahrain have detained the leader of the country's main shiite opposition group. he attended a mass protest, this one here in the capital on friday. demonstrators called for democracy, political reform, and the release of political prisoners. his lawyer says he has been accused of inciting hatred against the regime. this monday is the first anniversary of the arrest in egypt of three al jazeera journalists. they were charged with aiding a terrorist organization. the journalists deny these charges, saying they were just doing their jobs. we spoke to some of their parents in cairo. >> a verdict that was shocking

and painful to many people. the three men were given prison sentences, ranging between seven and ten years. with the new year comes an appeal session that ushers in hope for the three journalists and their families. >> we are confident that the appeal will acknowledge the fact that peter and his colleagues have been entirely and wrongfully convicted and sentenced and jailed. >> we are now driving by the complex where the journalists are held. security measures are very tight, so we cannot film outside. there are hope that the three men may walk out of this notorious place sooner than expected after a recent reconciliation deal between egypt and qatar. earlier this month, he met with

an envoy in cairo. saudi arabia was the mediator. it appears to be that mediation efforts brought this. one of the channels known for its criticism of the egyptian regime. qatar is softening its tone. egypt may also make some changes. the family is cautiously optimistic. >> it's mixed feeling. hope and fear. fear because when we imagine about this seven years, which cannot be because innocent men, so why we keep thinking of seven years, we are dreaming that we can get him with us the next year. it was a very tough year on me and his parents and definitely on him.

i believe that there is no reason for him to stay in prison any more. >> reporter: their future could be decided by the judge. but politics may have the final word. a reminder now of our top story. the search for the missing airasia airbus which went missing in the java sea. we have these pictures, a plane taking part in the mission to find the missing plane. we do know the operation has been hampered by bad weather. it's been suspended as well for the night but is expected to resume at first light on tuesday morning. thanks for being with us.

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