JAKARTA – An Indonesian Lion Air passenger plane crashed into a sea few minutes after taking off from the capital Jakartan on Monday, Indonesian search and rescue officials confirmed.
An official from Indonesia’s transport ministry has said there were around 188 people on board, including crew. There is no official comment about the casualties so far.
https://twitter.com/khalid_pk/status/1056756780640976896
Flight JT-610 was on a scheduled flight from the capital to Pangkal Pinang, the main city in the Bangka Belitung Islands. The Boeing737 lost contact with the control tower at 6:30 around 13 minutes after it took off.
https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1056733416102789120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1056733416102789120&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.sky.com%2Fstory%2Flion-air-flight-crashes-after-taking-off-from-indonesian-capital-jakarta-11538880
The head of Indonesia’s disaster agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, has tweeted images and videos which showed debris of the aircraft and personal belongings.
https://twitter.com/Sutopo_PN/status/1056745346917781504
https://twitter.com/Sutopo_PN/status/1056746231777550337
This is the first crash of the Boeing 737 MAX model, which are more fuel-efficient versions of the manufacturer’s single-aisle passenger jet. Lion Air subsidiary Malindo Air received the first delivery of this aircraft in 2017.
In August 2015, 54 people were killed after a commercial passenger plane operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather.
