A Boeing 737 operated by Sriwijaya Air disappeared shortly after take off from the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
Greater than 50 persons are believed to be on board the airliner on the time of the incident.
The plane misplaced contact en path to Pontianak, situated within the nation’s West Kalimantan province, authorities mentioned.
Pictures of what seemed to be plane wrecks appeared on tv and social media, whereas the Transport Ministry mentioned search and rescue efforts have been underway.
The final contact with the plane, with the decision signal SJY182, was made at 2:40 p.m. native time (07:40 GMT).
The standard flight time to Pontianak, situated to the west of the island of Borneo, is an hour and a half.
In response to the registration particulars, the aircraft is a 26-year-old Boeing 737-500.
Sriwijaya Air, an area low-cost airline that flies to Indonesia and different locations in Southeast Asia, mentioned it was nonetheless gathering info on the flight.
Nonetheless, the aircraft just isn’t a Boeing 737 Max, the mannequin concerned in two main accidents in recent times.
The primary of those, in 2018, concerned an Indonesian Lion Air flight that crashed into the ocean about 12 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing 189 folks.
Picture: Markus Mainka / DPA / PA Pictures
