Indonesia’s Lion Air plane with 189 aboard crashes into sea, officials say

FAN Editor

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A Lion Air flight with 189 people on board crashed into the sea moments after taking off from Indonesia’s capital early Monday. The airliner said it had lost contact with Flight JT-610 and Indonesia’s search and rescue agency posted images of debris it has found from the Boeing 737-800 plane that went down in the Java Sea. There was no immediate word of any survivors.

“It has been confirmed that it has crashed,” Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the agency, said by text message, when asked about the fate of the Lion Air plane, according to the Reuters news agency. Latif said the plane had lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff.

The crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since an AirAsia flight plunged into the sea in December 2014, killing all 162 on board. It’s the latest blow to the country’s aviation safety record after the lifting of bans on its airlines by the European Union and U.S.

The plane had departed Jakarta about 6:20 a.m. Monday, BBC News reports. Indonesia’s disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the plane was scheduled for a 1 hour and 10 minute flight to Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra.

At a news conference, officials said the plane had been carrying 178 adults, one child and two babies, as well as two pilots and six flight attendants. Next of kin have gathered at Pangkal Pinang airport, CBS News has learned, where a crisis center has been setup there and also at Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta airport.

Lion Air Flight JT610 crash

Relatives of passengers of Lion Air flight JT-610 that crashed into the sea, cry at Depati Amir airport in Pangkal Pinang, Indonesia, on Mon., Oct. 29, 2018.

Reuters

BBC News flagged a tweet from the head of Indonesia’s disaster agency that apparently shows parts of the plane and personal belongings from the flight, including a crushed smartphone, books and bags.

The Associated Press reports the Jakarta Search and Rescue Office cites the crew of a tug boat reporting a Lion Air flight falling from the sky. It said several vessels have headed to the location.

Local television coverage broadcast images of a fuel slick and debris field. The National Search and Rescue Agency said the flight ended in waters off West Java that are 98 to 115 feet deep. Divers have been dispatched to the scene.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 tweeted “preliminary data show an increase in speed and decrease in altitude at last transmission.” They posted an image of the flight track after takeoff, showing JT-610 looping south on take-off and then heading north before the flight path ended abruptly over the Java Sea, not far from the coast. The plane reportedly reached an altitude of only 5,200 feet.

Lion Air is one of Indonesia’s youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations. In 2013, one of its Boeing 737-800 jets missed the runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 people on board.

Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 were flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in June this year. The U.S. lifted a decadelong ban in 2016.

This is a breaking story. Please check back for latest updates. Selvanaban Mariappen and Peter Martinez contributed to this report.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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