JAKARTA – A brand new Indonesian Lion Air passenger plane crashed into a sea few minutes after taking off from the capital Jakartan on Monday, Indonesian search and rescue officials have confirmed.
As many as 189 people including crew members were on board. There is no official comment about the casualties so far.
Families and relatives of passengers travelling by JT 610 Lion Air complete shattered at Pangkalpinang Depati Amir airport Indonesia pic.twitter.com/t9NEkn4O90
— Khalid khi (@khalid_pk) October 29, 2018
Flight JT-610 was on a scheduled flight from the capital to Pangkal Pinang, the main city in the Bangka Belitung Islands. The Boeing737 lost contact with the control tower at 6:30 around 13 minutes after it took off.
We're following reports that contact has been lost with Lion Air flight #JT610 shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.
ADS-B data from the flight is available at https://t.co/zNM33cM0na pic.twitter.com/NIU7iuCcFu
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 29, 2018
The head of Indonesia’s disaster agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, has tweeted images and videos which showed debris of the aircraft and personal belongings.
Serpihan pesawat Lion Air JT 610 yang jatuh di perairan Karawang. Beberapa kapal tug boad membantu menangani evakuasi. Video diambil petugas tug boad yang ada di perairan Karawang. pic.twitter.com/4GhKcRYkpG
— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) October 29, 2018
The crashed plane had only been in service for a few weeks.
Beberapa serpihan pesawat Lion Air JT 610 yang jatuh di perairan Karawang. Pesawat membawa 178 penumpang dewasa, 1 penumpang anak-anak dan 2 bayi dengan 2 Pilot dan 5 FA. Basarnas dan Kementerian Perhubungan terus melakukan penanganan. Beberapa kapal tug boad berada di lokasi. pic.twitter.com/Gb6P4zjCQF
— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) October 29, 2018
This is the first crash of the Boeing 737 MAX model, which are more fuel-efficient versions of the manufacturer’s single-aisle passenger jet. Lion Air subsidiary Malindo Air received the first delivery of this aircraft in 2017.
In August 2015, 54 people were killed after a commercial passenger plane operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather.
