INDONESIA FLIGHT WITH 62 FEARED TO HAVE CRASHED

Jakarta, Jan. 9: A jet carrying 62 people lost contact with air traffic controllers minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s capital on a domestic flight on Saturday, and debris found by fishermen was being examined to see if it was from the missing plane, officials said.

Transportation minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Sriwijaya Air's Flight SJ182 was delayed for an hour before it took off at 2.36 pm. The Boeing 737-500 disappeared from radar four minutes later, after the pilot contacted air traffic control to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet, he said. The airline said in a statement that the plane was on an estimated 90minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island.

The plane was carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members, all Indonesian nationals, including six extra crew for another trip. Sumadi said a dozen vessels, including four warships, were deployed in a search-and-rescue operation centered between Lancang island and Laki island, part of the Thousand Islands chain just north of Jakarta.

Bambang Suryo Aji, the National Search and Rescue Agency’s deputy head of operations and preparedness, said rescuers collected plane debris and clothes that were found by fishermen.

They handed the items over to the National Transportation Safety Committee for further investigation to determine whether they were from the missing plane.