A Boeing jet with 62 people aboard was missing yesterday after losing contact with Indonesia’s aviation authorities shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.
Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182 was scheduled to depart from the nation’s capital to Pontianak on the island of Borneo at 1:40pm, according to FlightRadar24 data, which tracked the plane plunging from about 3,322m in altitude to 76m before it dropped off the radar.
The 26-year-old 737-500 aircraft is a much older model than the 737 MAX that was grounded for 20 months in 2019 after two fatal crashes, including a Lion Air disaster that killed 189 people in 2018.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Andika Primasiwi / PLANESPOTTERS.NET
Indonesian authorities said they have sent a search vessel from Jakarta to the plane’s last known location in the Java Sea. First responders were also deployed to the site to aid potential survivors, local TV reported.
Flight SJ182 had 56 passengers on board, including seven children and three infants, along with two pilots and four cabin crew, local media reported.
“We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation,” Boeing spokeswoman Zoe Leong said in a statement. “We are working to gather more information.”
Photo: AFP
Sriwijaya Air said it was working to obtain more detailed information about the flight, and would release an official statement later.
The 737 first flew in May 1994, Flightradar24 data showed.
The plane’s last contact was at 2:40pm, Indonesian Ministry of Transportation spokeswoman Adita Irawati said.
A fisher in the Thousand Islands regency found debris and oil spill in the water, with no confirmation of whether they were from the missing plane, according to video shown by local news channel MetroTV.
The regent of Thousand Islands received a report of a plane crashing on Laki Island, which is uninhabited, yesterday afternoon, he told local news Web site Detik.com.
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