Indonesia: Boeing 737 vanishes over sea shortly after takeoff
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Topics: BOEING
The Sriwijaya Air passenger plane – flight SJ182, a 737-500 model – reportedly fell 10,000ft in less than one minute earlier today, January 9, around four minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, journeying to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province.
The passenger plane reportedly had more than 50 people on-board at the time of the incident.
Flightradar24 tweeted: ‘We are following reports of a missing Boeing 737-500 in Indonesia. We hope to have more information soon.’
The website later explained: ‘Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.’
The flight reportedly vanished at 2:40pm local time, however Sriwijaya Air is still in the process of gathering more information, so no official statement has been made at the time of writing.
The tracking website noted: ‘Management is still communicating and investigating this matter and will immediately issue an official statement after obtaining the actual information.’
According to the manager of branch communication and legal at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Haerul Anwar, contact was lost with the aircraft as it flew across Lancang Island, Thousand Islands, as per CNBC Indonesia. ■