The Boeing 737-500 was flying from Jakarta to the city of Pontianak, on the Indonesian side of Borneo, when it lost contact at 2:40 pm local time (2:40 am ET), 11 nautical miles north of Soekarno- Hatta International Airport.
There were 50 passengers – 43 adults and 7 children – on board, in addition to 12 crew members, according to Indonesia’s transport minister.
On Sunday, family members gathered at a victim identification center in Jakarta and at a crisis center in Pontianak, where they waited for news from their loved ones.
Here’s what we know about the victims so far.
Agus Minarni and Muhammad Nur Kholifatul Amin
Agus Minarni and Muhammad Nur Kholifatul Amin traveled from their home in Mempawah, Indonesian Borneo, to Jakarta, Java, to attend Amin’s father’s funeral – which was taking place in Ponorogo, eastern Java.
While in Ponorogo, they were also able to spend time with one of their children, who attends a boarding school there.
When the couple returned to Jakarta, Minarni’s brother, Yudiansyah Yunus, asked him for help in finding a place at a boarding school for one of his sons.
That was the last time they got in touch, Yunus told CNN.
Minarni and her husband were due to fly home on January 5 on another airline – Nam Air, he said.
But when they arrived at the airport on Tuesday, they were told that to board the flight, they would need to have a coronavirus PCR test – a process that would delay them for another two days.
As soon as the couple obtained the test results, they were able to reschedule their flight home – but this time, it would be on another airline, Sriwijaya Air.
Yunus says that the loss of his sister has left a huge hole in the family and that he will miss her very much.
She was a kind person, he said, adding that he had always helped him and his younger sister in many ways. He added that she was an especially caring person and treated his uncles and aunts with kindness.
Yunus said he would look after the couple’s teenage children, who are now orphans.
It is imperative that “all interested parties, the airline and the government take this investigation seriously,” said Yunus.
He added that he hopes the Indonesian authorities will do their best “to at least find his remains in any form” so that he can bury his sister “properly, like those who normally die”.
“It’s all I hope for,” he said.
A family of five in transit
A family of five on the island of Bangka – an island east of Sumatra – was missing and feared dead, according to a family aunt, who spoke to CNN.
The family released a statement on Saturday saying Rizki Wahyudi, 26, his 26-year-old wife, Indah Halimah Putri, and their 7-month-old son were on the crashed flight.
Wahyudi’s mother and cousin were also on the flight.
Wahyudi has worked for the Indonesian Forestry Commission in Ketapang, West Kalimantan – a province on the Indonesian side of Borneo – for the past three years.
The family of five was in the Bangka Islands visiting other family members and was returning to West Kalimantan via Jakarta.
On Sunday, two Wahyudi uncles in Bangka sent their DNA to help with the identification process.
A pregnant mother and her family who were visiting relatives in Jakarta
Ratih Windania, who was four months pregnant, was visiting relatives in Jakarta with her 2-year-old daughter, Yumna; 8-year-old nephew, Athar Rizki Riawan; uncle Tony Islmail and aunt Rachmawati, according to Riawan’s father, Iwan.
In a story posted on his Instagram account before leaving Jakarta airport on Saturday, Windania says goodbye to relatives living in Jakarta.
Windania also posted a cheerful photo of her with her smiling daughter and nephew sitting on the plane moments before takeoff.
Father and businessman Yohanes Suherdi, 30
Yohanes Suherdi was in Jakarta on a business trip and looking forward to returning to his family in Ngarak, a village several hours from Pontianak airport.
His wife, Susilawati Bungahilaria, 32, told CNN that she hopes Suherdi will be found safely and that the family will be able to meet soon. The couple has a 5-year-old son, Rian Gusti Rafael.
Bungahilaria said she spoke to her husband – whom she described as a “very good and sociable person” – just before takeoff.
“His last message to me was to not forget to take our son to the doctor because he had a fever,” she said.
Sobbing, she said that her son keeps asking when the father will return home.
Bungahilaria and Suherdi’s father traveled on Sunday to a crisis center in Pontianak, where they sent physical items that could help with the identification process, including the father’s DNA.
Correction: an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of passengers on the flight. There were 50 passengers and 12 crew.