Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air, carrying 189 people, crashed into the ocean on Monday morning.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8, flying from the capital, Jakarta, to Pangkal Pinang in Bangka Belitung province, took off about 6.20am Jakarta time (10.20am AEDT) but lost contact with air traffic control at 6.33am.
According to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (SAR), the plane was carrying 181 passengers, as well as six crew members and two pilots.
At a press conference late on Monday afternoon, Basarnas (Indonesian’s search and rescue agency) reported that debris, life vests and a cellphone have been discovered in the water two nautical miles from the coordinates given as the crash site.
Authorities said they are still trying to locate the Emergency Locator Transmitter which is currently not transmitting.
The low-cost carrier had a poor safety record for many years. It was banned by the EU from flying over European airspace along with other Indonesian airlines in 2007, and the ban was only lifted in 2016.
Since 2002, Lion Air has had more than a dozen major incidents or accidents. The most deadly was in 2004 when a plane overshot the runway and crashed into a cemetery in Surakarta, killing 31 people.
Photo: TWITTER – SUTOPO_PN
