Lion Air plane crashes into sea, 189 on board

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) —Indonesia’s disaster agency says a Lion Air passenger jet crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta and was carrying 189 passengers and crew.

Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho posted photos on Twitter of debris including a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels that have converged on the area.

At least one child, two babies and 178 passengers were one board, plus at least seven crew.

Indonesian TV broadcast pictures of a fuel slick and debris field.

Indonesia’s Lion Air said Monday it has lost contact with a passenger jet flying from Jakarta to an island off Sumatra.

A search and rescue effort has been launched for the Boeing 737-800 plane which departed Jakarta about 6.20 a.m. for Pangkal Pinang.

“We can confirm that one of our flights has lost contact,” said Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro. “Its position cannot be ascertained yet.”

A telegram from the National Search and Rescue Agency to the air force has requested assistance with the search of a location at sea off Java.

Data for Lion Air’s Flight 610 on aircraft tracking website FlightAware ends just a few minutes following takeoff.

Lion Air is one of Indonesia’s youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

In 2013, one of its Boeing 737-800 jets missed the runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 people on board.