Indonesian aircraft with 62 on board crashes into sea

An Indonesian passenger aircraft with 62 people on board crashed into the sea after taking off from the capital Jakarta, authorities said Saturday.

Sriwijaya Air flight SJY 182 had 50 passengers on board, including 10 children, plus 12 crew members, said the country’s Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi.

Debris believed to be from the missing plane has been found between the isles of Laki and Lancang in Jakarta’s Thousand Islands regency, said the authorities.

The National Search and Rescue Agency said the crash site is approximately 1.5-2 miles from the two islands.

"The area around the two islands has a depth of 20-30 meters," Bambang Suryo, the agency’s deputy for operations, said in a press conference.

Later, the Indonesian Navy said it found the debris of plane scattered at four sites of Thousand Islands waters. 

The flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of the province of West Kalimantan, lost contact at 2.40 p.m. local time (0740GMT), said Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawat.

Authorities are currently investigating and coordinating with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee.

According to FlightRadar24, a flight tracker website, it lost more than 3,048 meters (10,000 feet) in altitude in less than a minute.

Sumadi said President Joko Widodo ordered maximum search for the aircraft debris.

*Writing by Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo with Anadolu Agency’s Indonesian language service in Jakarta