A Boeing Co. passenger plane. carrying 62 people crashed into the Java Sea on Saturday, Indonesian authorities said.
The Sriwijaya Air jet lost contact with air traffic controllers and disappeared from radar minutes after taking off from the country’s capital, Jakarta, transport ministry officials said. It was a 90-minute route from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, on the Indonesian island of Borneo, and disappeared at 14:40 local time, said a ministry spokeswoman, Adita Irawati.
The aircraft involved was a 26-year-old Boeing 737-500, according to Theodora Erika, a spokeswoman for Sriwijaya Air, which is an Indonesian operator. The Sriwijaya SJ182 flight departed at 14:36 local time, climbing to a maximum altitude of 10,900 feet about four minutes later and then beginning a steep descent, according to aviation data provider Flightradar24. The last data signal from the aircraft was at an altitude of 250 feet, Flightradar24 said.
Boeing said in a statement on Saturday that it was aware of the reports in Jakarta and was closely monitoring the situation. CFM International, which manufactured the jet engines, said it was providing technical assistance to authorities and the airline. CFM is an association between General Electric Co. and Safran SA.
The Boeing aircraft is not the 737 MAX, the newest version of the company’s single-aisle family, which was grounded nearly two years ago in two fatal crashes.