Jakarta, Oct 29 (AP/UNB) — Indonesia’s disaster agency says a Lion Air passenger jet crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta and was carrying 188 passengers and crew. Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho posted photos on Twitter of debris including a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels that have converged on the area.
He said the flight was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and seven crew members.
Indonesian TV broadcast pictures of a fuel slick and debris field.
A search and rescue effort is being conducted at sea for a Lion Air passenger jet that lost contact shortly after it left Jakarta.
The Boeing 737-800 departed the Indonesian capital about 6.20 a.m. for Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra. Data for Flight 610 on aircraft tracking website FlightAware ends just a few minutes following takeoff.
“We can confirm that one of our flights has lost contact,” said Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro. “Its position cannot be ascertained yet.”
A telegram from the National Search and Rescue Agency to the air force has requested assistance with the search of a location at sea off Java.
A report to the Jakarta Search and Rescue Office cites the crew of a tugboat reporting a Lion Air flight falling from the sky. It said several vessels have headed to the location.
Indonesia’s Lion Air says it has lost contact with a passenger jet flying from Jakarta to an island off Sumatra.
A search and rescue effort has been launched for the Boeing 737-800 plane which departed Jakarta about 6.20 a.m. on Monday.
Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said “we can confirm that one of our flights has lost contact, its position cannot be ascertained yet.”
