Indonesia Plane With 62 on Board Vanishes Over Sea, Debris Found

A Boeing 737 passenger plane has crashed into the sea after disappearing shortly after take off when it plunged 10,000ft into the ocean. The Sriwijaya Air passenger plane lost contact after taking off from Indonesian capital Jakarta on Saturday en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province.

It had more than 60 people on board.

Photos show rescue workers pulling debris from the water in a desperate search for survivors. The Indonesia rescue agency said suspected debris of the flight had been found. Residents of Thousand Island said they heard two explosions before finding items in the sea.

It’s been reported the plane fell 10,000ft in less than one minute, about four minutes after taking off.

Flightradar24 tweeted: “We are following reports of a missing Boeing 737-500 in Indonesia. We hope to have more information soon.”

Surachman, a local government official, told Kompas TV that fishermen found what appeared to be the wreckage of an aircraft in waters north of Jakarta and a search was underway.

Other channels showed pictures of suspected wreckage. 

“We found some cables, a piece of jeans, and pieces of metal on the water,” Zulkifli, a security official, told CNNIndonesia.com.

The Indonesian Navy has deployed 11 ships to search for the wreckage underwater.

The plane is not a 737 Max, the Boeing model involved in two major crashes in recent years.

According to AirLive.net there were 62 people on board: 56 passengers, four crew members and two pilots.

Of the 56 passengers, 46 were adults, seven were children and three were infants. Their nationality’s have not been disclosed.

The flight monitoring website later added: “Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.”

Sriwijaya Air said in a statement it is still gathering more detailed information regarding the flight before it can make any statement.

A Boeing spokeswoman said, “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information”. 

According to CNBC Indonesia, the flight vanished at 2.40pm local time, moments after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta airport.

The last location of the plane was in the waters of the Java Sea above Banten Province.

The Sriwijaya Air plane lost contact around Lancang Island, Thousand Islands, the manager of branch communication and legal at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Haerul Anwar, said.

It was raining at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at the time of take-off for Pontianak, around 740 km (460 miles) away.

Video images from the airport showed pictures of relatives of the passengers in tears as they awaited news of the fate of the aircraft.

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