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Boeing 737 jet with 50 passengers onboard VANISHES over sea after ‘falling 10,000ft’ on takeoff from Indonesian capital Jakarta
- The Sriwijaya Air plane took off from Jakarta and was heading to Pontianak
- Lost contact with control room after takeoff, according to local media reports
- Plane is understood to have fallen 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds
A Boeing 737 passenger jet carrying 50 passengers has disappeared over the sea after plummeting 10,000 feet shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, reports claim.
The Sriwijaya Air plane took off from the Indonesian capital on Saturday and was heading to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province when it lost contact with the control room, according to local media reports.
The plane – believed to be a Boeing B737-500 – is understood to have fallen 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds just four minutes after it took off.
Flightradar24 tweeted: ‘We are following reports of a missing Boeing 737-500 in Indonesia. We hope to have more information soon.’
A Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 passenger jet (file image of a similar plane) carrying 50 passengers has disappeared over the sea after plummeting 10,000 feet shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, reports claim
Indonesian airline Sriwijaya Air is still is still getting more information before issuing a statement.
Indonesia’s transport ministry said on Saturday: ‘A Sriwijaya (Air) plane from Jakarta to Pontianak (on Borneo island) with call sign SJY182 has lost contact,’ said ministry spokesman Adita Irawati.
‘It last made contact at 2:40 pm (0740 GMT).’
The reported disappearance comes just over two years after a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX plunged into the sea after taking off in Indonesia. Lion Air’s flight JT-610 (stock photo) lost contact with air control in October 2018
The crash (wreckage pictured) left all 189 people onboard dead and has been blamed on a combination of aircraft design flaws, inadequate training and maintenance problems
The usual flight time is about 90-minutes.
The budget airline said only it was investigating the incident.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency and the National Transportation Safety Commission were also investigating, Irawati said.
In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet slammed into the Java Sea about 12 minutes after take-off from Jakarta on a routine one-hour flight.
That crash – and a subsequent fatal flight in Ethiopia – saw Boeing hit with $2.5 billion in fines over claims it defrauded regulators overseeing the 737 MAX model, which was grounded worldwide following the two deadly crashes.
