A Boeing 737-500 plane of Indonesia-based airline Sriwijaya went missing on Saturday shortly after take-off. The aircraft is feared to have crashed, said sources.
Flight SJ182 lost contact after taking off. It lost up to 10,000 feet in altitude within a minute, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24. The highest altitude the aircraft reached was 10,900 feet, while the last altitude it recorded was 250 feet.
The plane is believed to have been carrying 62 passengers though it has a capacity of 130.
The rescuers have found suspected debris in waters north of the city, though it is not confirmed whether it is of the same aircraft.
The plane was headed to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province, local media reported.
The plane’s first recorded flight was in May 1994, making it some 26 years old.
The Boeing 737-500 took off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta international airport. The flight time between Jakarta and Pontianak is usually 90 minutes.
In October 2018, nearly 190 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.
