Plane With 62 Passengers Goes Missing in Indonesia

Missing Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500

ABoeing passenger aircraft has gone missing in Indonesia after losing more than 10.000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, local reports said. The aircraft was enroute to Pontianak in the wild Borneo province and was said to have gone missing about four minutes after departure from capital Jakarta. 

Transport ministry officials confirmed that the flight lost contact after departing from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, media reports said.

Air traffic tracker Flighttrader24 tweeted on Saturday morning that “Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10.000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta,”

Flightradar24 added that the flight was operated by a Boeing 737-500 ‘classic’ with registration number PK-CLC (MSN 27323) and that the plane’s first flight was in May, 1994 and the aircraft is 26 years old. Witnesses have claimed to have seen debris of a plane in the area, although official confirmation has yet to be made.

According to Flightradar24, the highest altitude the budget plane reached was 10,900 feet and the last altitude recorded was 250 feet. The situation is under investigation and a search for the aircraft has been launched.

Advertisements