An airplane carrying 56 passengers and six crew members of an Indonesian airline disappeared from the radar shortly after take-off in Jakarta.
The last contact with Sriwijaya Air’s Boeing 737-500 was 20 kilometers from the airport above sea. That contact was around 8.40 am Dutch time.
The plane was bound for Pontianak in West Kalimantan province, about 700 kilometers north of Jakarta. That is a flight of about an hour and a half.
According to Flightradar24, a few minutes after takeoff, the plane suddenly lost 3000 meters altitude in less than a minute.
Aviation authorities have launched a search in the area where the aircraft was last seen. Ships from the nearby island of Lancang have also been pulled out and initial reports indicate that possible wreckage and oil trails have been found in the sea, CNN Indonesia reports.