A Sriwijaya Air plane reportedly carrying more than 60 people lost contact after taking off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Saturday.
A statement released by the budget airline said the Boeing 737-500 was on an estimated 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island.
There were 56 passengers and six crew members on board.
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 under way. Other news channels showed images 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.
Reliable tracking service Flightradar24 said on its Twitter feed that Flight SJ182 “lost more than 10,000 feet [3,000 metres] of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta”.
Indonesian transportation ministry spokeswoman Adita Irawati said in a statement the missing plane is currently under investigation. “It last made contact at 2:40pm [07:40 GMT],” she said.
The aircraft is a 27-year-old Boeing 737-500, according to registration details included in the tracking data.
A similar incident has happened in late 2018 when a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed off Jakarta killing all 189 passengers and crew. The plane that lost contact on Saturday is a much older model.
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