Boeing 737 aircraft with 62 people onboard missing after takeoff

A Boeing 737 passenger jet with 62 people onboard has disappeared over the sea after plummeting 10,000 feet shortly following takeoff from Jakarta.

The Sriwijaya Air plane took off from Soekarno-Hatta international airport on Saturday at 1.56pm for a 90-minute flight over the Java Sea between Jakarta and Pontianak in West Kalimantan – Indonesia’s section of Borneo island.

But at 2.40pm – just four minutes after takeoff – the Boeing B737-500 plane plunged nearly 11,000 feet in less than 60 seconds to an altitude of just 250 feet before vanishing.

There are feared to be 62 people on the 26-year-old plane, including 56 passengers – seven of whom are children and three are babies – as well as two pilots and four cabin crew.

And families are now fearing the worst after rescuers looking for flight SJ182 say they have discovered suspected metal debris in the ocean north of the capital.

The missing plane is an older model than the Boeing 737 MAX jet involved in two earlier fatal crashes – including the Indonesian Lion Air crash in 2018 which killed 189.

Families of the passengers and crew are fearing the worse after rescuers looking for the jet say they have discovered suspected debris in the ocean north of the capital.

The plane – believed to be a Boeing B737-500 – is understood to have fallen 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds just four minutes after it took off.

Terrified relatives of the 62 people onboard the missing Sriwijaya Air flight wait for news at the Supadio airport in Pontianak – where the plane was expected to land

Indonesian soldiers are seen at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta after the Sriwijaya Air plane vanished over the ocean

Airport officials installed barriers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 went missing

Airport staff set up a crisis centre at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for families onboard the missing Sriwijaya Air flight SJY182.

Indonesian military is seen at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport today. The budget airline – which has about 19 Boeing jets that fly to destinations in Indonesia and Southeast Asia – said only it was investigating the incident

Indonesia’s search and rescue agency and the National Transportation Safety Commission were also investigating, Irawati said

A spokesperson for Boeing said: ‘We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information.’

Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said the Boeing 737-500 took off from Jakarta at about 1.56pm and lost contact with the control tower at 2.40pm.

She said: ‘A Sriwijaya (Air) plane from Jakarta to Pontianak (on Borneo island) with call sign SJY182 has lost contact.

‘It last made contact at 2:40 pm (0740 GMT).’

A statement released by the airline confirmed that the plane was on an estimated 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak with 56 passengers and six crew members onboard.

A search and rescue operation is underway in coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee.

A search vessel has been deployed and paramedics are on hand to aid any survivors.

Source: Daily Mail