The 62-person commercial plane disappears in Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia – A 62-person Sriwijaya Air plane lost contact with air traffic controllers after taking off from the Indonesian capital on Saturday with a domestic flight, authorities said.

Ministry of Transport spokesman Adita Irawati said the Boeing 737-500 took off from Jakarta around 13:56 (local time) and lost contact with the control tower at 14:40.

An airline statement said the plane was on a 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo.

Before taking off, the plane was boarded by 56 passengers and six crew members.

Irawati indicated that a search and rescue operation had already begun in coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transport Safety Committee.

An aircraft on that route would be the largest part of the flight over the Java Sea in the Indian Ocean.

There was no sign of the plane when night fell.

Indonesia, the largest archipelago in the world with a population of 260 million, has been hit by a plague of land, sea and air transport accidents due to overcapacity, damaged infrastructure and safety standards. poorly applied.