Passenger plane crashes into sea minutes after take-off from Jakarta
A passenger plane operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air has crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta’s international airport.
An Indonesia transport ministry official says the flight was carrying 189 people, including crew, Reuters reports.
According to reports there were three children onboard and seven crew members.
The head of Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, Muhammad Syaugi, said it was unknown if there were any survivors.
The plane lost contact 13 minutes after take-off, according to the official.
The jet was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, according to air tracking service Flightradar 24.
Flight JT-610 took off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 6.21am local time on Monday and was headed to Pangkal Pinang.
“We cannot give any comment at this moment, said Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group.
“We are trying to collect all the information and data.”
The accident is the first to be reported that involves the widely-sold Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer’s workhorse single-aisle jet.
The first Boeing 737 MAX jets were introduced into service in 2017.
Plane maker Boeing said in a tweet that it was aware of reports of an airplane accident and it was “closely monitoring” the situation.
No survivors expected
Human remains have been recovered from the crash site 15km off the coast.
Search and rescue head Muhammad Syaugi said no distress signal had been received from the aircraft’s emergency transmitter.
“We don’t know yet whether there are any survivors,” he said.
“We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm.”
It’s not known if any Australians were on board.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is investigating.
“The Australian Embassy in Jakarta is making urgent enquiries with local authorities to determine if any Australians were on board the flight,” DFAT said in a statement.
Bambang Suryo, operational director of an Indonesian search and rescue agency, told reporters he didn’t think anyone survived.
Plane ‘crashed into deep water’
Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the National Search and Rescue Agency told AFP the plane crashed into water about 30 to 40 metres deep.
Sindu Rahayu, directorate general of Civil Aviation at the transport ministry, said the plane had asked to change its route.
“The plane had requested to return to base before finally disappearing from the radar,” he said.
Debris found floating in sea
Spokesperson for Indonesia’s Disaster Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, shared footage and video from the crash scene showing debris pulled from the sea.
Among the items retrieved included life jackets, luggage and clothing.
Footage shows several rescue vessels searching the crash site where a layer of oil sits on top of the water.
“We have found life vests, mobile phones and pieces of the aircraft,” Muhammad Syaugii said.
“We don’t know yet whether there are any survivors,” Syaugi told a news conference. “We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm.”
Debris thought to be from the plane, including aircraft seats, was found near an offshore refining facility in the Java Sea, an official of state energy firm Pertamina said.
The head of Indonesia’s transport safety committee said he could not confirm the cause of the crash, which would have to wait until the recovery of the plane’s black boxes, as the cockpit voice recorder and data flight recorder are known.
More to come.
– With AAP, AFP and Reuters
