Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air lost contact with one of its passenger planes shortly after take-off from the capital Jakarta, the country's transport ministry said Saturday.
"A Sriwijaya (Air) plane from Jakarta to Pontianak (on Borneo island) with call sign SJY182 has lost contact," said ministry spokesman Adita Irawati.
"It last made contact at 2:40 pm (0740 GMT)."
It was unclear how many passengers and crew were aboard the Boeing 737-500, AFP reported.
Sriwijaya Air, an Indonesian airline, said in a statement it is still gathering more detailed information regarding the flight before it can make any statement, according to Reuters.
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"We deployed our team, boats and sea riders to the location suspected to be where it went down after losing contact," Bambang Suryo Aji, a senior official at the agency, told reporters.
The suspected crash site is near tourist islands just off the coast of Indonesia's sprawling capital Jakarta, AFP reported.
Agus Haryono told Reuters it had not been confirmed that the debris came from Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182, which lost contact after taking off with more than 50 people aboard, Reuters reported.
The Sriwijaya Air plane took off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and was headed to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province, local media reported.
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
