Jakarta: A Sriwijaya Air flight with 62 aboard is missing after losing contact with Indonesia’s aviation authorities shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.
Flight SJ182, a 26-year-old Boeing Co. 737-500, was scheduled to depart from the nation’s capital to Pontianak on the island of Borneo at 1:40 p.m. local time, according to FlightRadar24 data. It had 56 passengers on board, along with two pilots and four cabin crew, MetroTV reported.
The plane has reportedly crashed in water not far from Jakarta on Saturday, Xinhua reported citing local TV. Human body parts and debris of the plane were found, said Captain EKo Surya Hadi, commander of Trisula coast guard ship.
Indonesian authorities said they have sent a search vessel from Jakarta to plane’s last known location in the Java Sea. First responders were also deployed to the site to aid potential survivors, local TV reported.
Sriwijaya Air said it’s working to obtain more detailed information about the flight, and will release an official statement later.
The 737 first flew in May 1994, according to Flightradar. It’s a much older model than the 737 Max model that was grounded for 20 months after two crashes, including a Lion Air disaster that killed 189 people in 2018.
The plane’s last contact was at 2:40 p.m., according to Adita Irawati, a spokeswoman for the transport ministry. -Bloomberg
With inputs from ANI.
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