Flight JT610 plunges into waters off Jakarta

A passenger plane carrying 188 people has crashed into the sea off Jakarta, minutes after takeoff.

“It has been confirmed that it has crashed,” Yusuf Latif, a spokesperson for the country’s search and rescue agency, said yesterday by text message, when asked about the fate of the plane.

Flight JT610 lost contact with the ground 13 minutes after take-off, according to an official.

The jet was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, which can carry up to 200 passengers, according to air tracking service Flightradar 24.

A search and rescue effort has been launched for the plane, which departed Jakarta about 6.20am yesterday. It was scheduled to land at Pangkal Pinang at 7.20am. Reports received at Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta indicated the remains of the plane had been spotted. Wreckage had been found near where the plane lost contact with air traffic officials on the ground, said Muhmmad Syaugi, the head of the search and rescue agency. “We don’t know yet whether there are any survivors,” Syaugi told a news conference, adding that no distress signal had been received from the aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter.

“We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm.”

Indonesia’s disaster agency spokesman posted video of some debris on Twitter.

A vessel traffic officer, Suyadi, told the Jakarta Post that at 6.45am he received a report from a tugboat that had identified a downed plane. A tanker and cargo ship were approaching the site and a search and rescue vessel was also en route. The Guardian