BANGKOK – Indonesia’s Ministry of Transport said on Saturday it had lost contact with a passenger jet after it took off from the capital, Jakarta, and flew over the Java Sea.
The ministry said the last contact with the plane, Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, was made at 2:40 pm local time. The Boeing 737-524 was destined for the city of Pontianak, on the island of Borneo. More than 50 people are believed to be on board.
Four minutes after takeoff, 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 aviation industry in Indonesia, a developing country with thousands of islands, has long struggled with problems, facing security problems and the rapid growth of low-cost airlines.
In 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea with 189 people on board after the malfunctioning Boeing 737 jet anti-aircraft system malfunctioned.
Regarding the flight on Saturday, Sriwijaya Air said in a preliminary statement that “the administration is still communicating and investigating this matter and will immediately issue an official statement after obtaining the actual information”.
The country’s aviation security commission said it was on alert and that the transport minister was on his way to Jakarta’s international airport. The patrol boats were heading for waters northwest of Jakarta, where the plane was last seen, the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency said.
“Whenever we hear this kind of news, we prepare,” said Ony Suryo Wibowo, an investigator with the Indonesian National Transport Safety Committee, on Saturday. “We are gathering all the information we can get.”