UPDATE:
Indonesian rescuers have pulled out body parts, pieces of clothing and scraps of metal from the Java Sea after a Boeing 737-500 with 62 people onboard crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.
Officials detected a signal from the aircraft after using sonar equipment to identify the possible location of the crash site.
More than 12 hours since the plane operated by the Indonesian airline lost contact, little is known about what caused the crash.
Fishermen in the area around Thousand Islands north of Jakarta’s coast reported hearing an explosion Saturday afternoon.
(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
Indonesian officials say Sriwijaya Air jet loses contact with air traffic controllers after taking off from Jakarta.
A Sriwijaya Air passenger jet carrying 62 people has lost contact with air traffic controllers after taking off from Indonesia’s capital on a domestic flight.
Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said the Boeing 737-500 took off from Jakarta at about 1:56 p.m. Saturday and lost contact with the control tower at 2:40 p.m.
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.
(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
