Jakarta: Indonesia's search and rescue agency said that all 189 passenger and crew aboard a crashed Indonesian jet were "likely" killed in the accident. On Monday a Lion Air passenger flight from Jakarta, the capital, to the city of Pangkal Pinang off the island of Sumatra, had crashed into the sea. "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. It was not immediately clear how many were on board.
Lion Air Flight JT610 took off around 6:20 am and was due to have landed in the capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining hub at 7:20 am, the flight tracking service showed. The plane, a Boeing 737 Max 8 model, lost contact with the air-traffic controller at 6:33 am, 13 minutes after taking off, the airport authorities said.
Here are the updates on the Lion Air plane crash:
Oct 29, 2018 19:02 (IST)
Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) said there were 178 adult passengers, one child, two infants, two pilots and six cabin crew on board flight JT 610.
Oct 29, 2018 16:37 (IST)
Some 40 divers are part of about 150 personnel at the rescue scene, authorities said, with the plane in water about 30 to 40 metres deep, says AFP reports.
Oct 29, 2018 11:24 (IST)
Passengers feared dead
"We don't know yet whether there are any survivors," agency head Muhmmad Syaugi said at a news conference, adding that no distress signal had been received from the aircraft's emergency transmitter. "We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm."
He said that items such as hand phones and life vests were found in waters about 30 metres to 35 metres deep near where the plane, identified by air tracking service Flightradar 24 as a Boeing 737 MAX 8, lost contact.
"We are there already, our vessels, our helicopter is hovering above the waters, to assist," Syaugi said. "We are trying to dive down to find the wreck."
Oct 29, 2018 10:14 (IST)
Debris thought to be from the plane, including aircraft seats, was found near an offshore refining facility in the Java Sea, an official of state energy firm Pertamina said.
Wreckage had been found near where the plane lost contact with air traffic officials on the ground, said Muhmmad Syaugi, head of the search and rescue agency.
Oct 29, 2018 09:53 (IST)
"The plane had requested to return to base before finally disappearing from the radar," Sindu Rahayu, directorate general of civil aviation at the Indonesian transport ministry, said in a statement.
"The aircraft was carrying 178 adult passengers, one child and two babies, with two pilots and five flight attendants."