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| A Lion Air Boeing 737 passenger plane has come down after taking off from Jakarta, say Indonesian officials. PHOTO| ADEK BERRY | AFP |
A Lion Air Boeing 737 passenger plane has come down after taking off from Jakarta, say Indonesian officials.
Flight JT-610 was on a scheduled flight from the Indonesian capital to Pangkal Pinang, the main city in the Bangka Belitung Islands.
It lost contact with ground control a few minutes after take-off, as it was crossing the sea.
It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the plane, a brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8.
Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the national search and rescue agency told reporters: “It has been confirmed that it has crashed.”
Airline Chief executive Edward Sirait earlier told Reuters: “We cannot give any comment at this moment. We are trying to collect all the information and data.”
Indonesian media quoted a port official at Tanjung Priok as saying a tugboat had reported seeing plane debris in the water.
Suyadi, who uses only one name like many Indonesians, said other vessels were making their way to the site.
