Boeing 737 carrying 62 people feared to have crashed into sea near Jakarta

An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 62 people that went missing on Saturday is feared to have crashed, after suspected debris was found in the sea north of Jakarta.

The Boeing 737-500, which departed Jakarta’s international airport at about 2.36pm, lost contact with the control tower at 2:40pm. Data from the flight tracker FlightRadar24 said the Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182 reached an altitude of nearly 11,000ft (3,350 metres) before dropping to 250ftt.

The plane was carrying 50 passengers, including seven children, among them three infants, as well as 12 crew members, according to the ministry of transportation. It was scheduled to make a 90-minute journey, traveling over the Java Sea from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island.

Map of intended flight path and point of last contact

A local fisherman reported that he had seen possible debris at 3.30pm, when an explosion was first heard, Deby Riana Sumanthi, the head of maritime agriculture and food security (KPKP) sub-department of Thousand Island-Jakarta, told the Guardian.

Footage of suspected wreckage was also broadcast on Indonesian TV. “We found some cables, a piece of jeans, and pieces of metal on the water,” a security official told CNNIndonesia.com. It is not confirmed that the debris came from the flight.

Agus Haryono, a rescue agency official, told Reuters that 50 people were searching for the aircraft and would continue working into the night. Indonesia’s transport ministry said it was investigating the incident.

“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).”

The president director of Sriwijaya Air, Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, told the Guardian that the airline was coordinating with Basarnas, the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee. The airline, which was founded in 2003, mostly flies within Indonesia and has an otherwise solid safety record.

The plane, a Boeing 737-500, does not use the same software system as those involved in two crashes that killed hundreds of people and left Boeing in crisis, according to Reuters.

In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max jet plunged into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta for a domestic flight. Months later, a Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people onboard. Last week, Boeing was fined $2.5bn by the US justice department after being charged with fraud and conspiracy in connection with two crashes.

A Boeing spokeswoman said: “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information”.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation, has also been criticised for poor safety standards within its aviation industry, which has been plagued by accidents. In 2014, an AirAsia plane crashed with the loss of 162 lives.