Indonesian plane carrying 62 people feared to have crashed into sea

Published : Saturday, 9 January, 2021 at 11:41 PM Count : 548

Search and rescue officers look for Sriwijaya Air plane victims in waters off Laki Island, Pulau Seribu District, Jakarta, on Jan 9, 2021. (ANTARA/Gulkarmat Kepulauan Seribu)

An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 62 people that went missing on Saturday is feared to have crashed, after suspected debris was found in the sea north of Jakarta.

The Boeing 737-500, which departed from Jakarta’s international airport at about 2.36pm, lost contact four minutes later. Data from the flight tracker FlightRadar24 said Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 had reached an altitude of nearly 11,000ft (3,350 metres) before dropping to 250ft.

The plane was carrying 50 passengers, including seven children, among them three infants, and 12 crew members, according to the transport ministry. It was scheduled to make a 90-minute journey over the Java Sea to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Borneo island.

Indonesian plane carrying 62 people feared to have crashed into sea

A local fisherman reported that he had seen possible debris at 3.30pm, when an explosion was first heard, according to Deby Riana Sumanthi, the head of maritime agriculture and food security for the sub-department of Thousand Island-Jakarta.

Footage of suspected wreckage was also broadcast on Indonesian TV. “We found some cables, a piece of jeans, and pieces of metal on the water,” a security official told CNNIndonesia.com. It has not been confirmed that the debris came from the flight.

Agus Haryono, a rescue agency official, told Reuters that 50 people were searching for the aircraft and would continue working into the night. Indonesia’s transport ministry said it was investigating the incident.

“A Sriwijaya plane from Jakarta to Pontianak with call sign SJY182 has lost contact,” said ministry spokesman Adita Irawati. “It last made contact at 2:40 pm (0740 GMT).”

The president director of Sriwijaya Air, Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, said the airline was coordinating with Basarnas, the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transport Safety Committee. The airline, which was founded in 2003, mostly flies within Indonesia and has an otherwise solid safety record.

The plane, a Boeing 737-500, does not use the same software system as those involved in two crashes that killed hundreds of people and left Boeing in crisis, according to Reuters.

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