Jakarta: A Sriwijaya Air plane flying from Indonesia lost contact shortly after takeoff from the capital city of Jakarta Saturday, according to government spokesman Adita Irawati.
“The missing plane is currently under investigation and under coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee,” Irawati said in a statement.
Flight tracking showed the flight path of flight SJ182 ending off the coast just north of Jakarta after losing quite a lot of altitude.
Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10.000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.https://t.co/fNZqlIR2dz pic.twitter.com/MAVfbj73YN
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 9, 2021
What is known so far:
The plane was flying from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport to Pontianak, the provincial capital of West Kalimantan.
The flight last made contact at 2:40 p.m. (0740 UTC)
There were at least 59 on board, including five children and a baby, reported Indonesian newspaper Republika.
There were two pilots and four cabin crew on board, reported Indonesia’s iNews.
The plane lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than a minute, reported flight tracker website FlightRadar24.
The plane model was a Boeing 737-500.
Authorities said the last contact they had with the flight SJY 182 was at 2.20pm Local media reported there were 62 people on board, comprising 56 passengers and a flight crew of six people.
Sriwijaya Air said it was still gathering more detailed information regarding the flight and would issue a statement later. Indonesian maritime authorities (Bakamla) said that they were sending three vessels to help with search and rescue efforts.
An official from Basarnas, Agus Haryono, told Reuters that rescuers had found suspected debris in the Java Sea, north of the capital. But it was not yet confirmed that the debris came from SJY 182.
Plane tracking website FlightRadar24 tweeted that SJY 182 lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute and that the aircraft was about 26 years old. Local media reported there were 62 people on board, comprising 56 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants.
PNN/Agencies