Jakarta: A passenger jet carrying more than 60 people crashed into the Java Sea on January 9, minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, Indonesian officials said.
The cause of the crash of Boeing 737-500 is yet to be determined.
Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry said that the last contact with the plane, Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, was at 2:40 pm local time. The plane was bound for the city of Pontianak on the island of Borneo. It had 62 people aboard, according to the Transportation Ministry.
Four minutes after taking off amid a heavy monsoon season rain, following a bad weather delay, the 26-year-old plane lost more than 10,000 feet in altitude in less than 60 seconds, according to Flightradar24, the flight-tracking service.
The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency said that it had found pieces of debris in waters just northwest of Jakarta that it believed may be from the plane’s wreckage, but that darkness and inclement weather had impeded its search. The area where the debris was found is known as the Thousand Islands.
Boeing acknowledged the crash, saying on Twitter: “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information.”
The aviation sector in Indonesia, a country of thousands of inhabited islands, has been plagued by crashes and safety lapses for years. As Indonesian airlines, particularly low-cost carriers, have grown rapidly to cover a vast archipelago, the domestic aviation industry has been undermined by shoddy aircraft maintenance and cavalier adherence to safety standards.
For years, top Indonesians carriers were banned from flying to the United States and Europe by those countries’ regulators. Budget airlines would start up business, only to declare bankruptcy after deadly crashes.
A statement released by the airline said the plane was on an estimated 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island. There were 56 passengers and six crew members onboard.
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