Indonesian airline's flight JT-610 crashes into sea, many feared dead

A jet of an Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed in Indonesia while flying from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang, according to the nation’s rescue agency.

The plane with a seating capacity of 210 disappeared near Karawang in West Java province, said Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the National Search and Rescue Agency. There are unconfirmed reports a tugboat crew in Karawang have reported seeing “debris of a plane” in the water, the local media reports. Indonesia energy firm Pertamina official also report debris, including plane seats, have been seen near its offshore facility in Java Sea.

Indonesia’s Lion Air has confirmed it lost contact with a passenger airplane flying from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang. Indonesia transport ministry official says it was carrying 189 people - including two infants and crew.

Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) spokesperson, Yusuf Latif, told News Corporation the aircraft was believed to have crashed near Tanjung Karawang in the waters off West Java.

“It has crashed in the waters in West Java. Our team has been deployed,” Latif said.

The Lion Air plane lost contact with air traffic controllers at 6.33am. Flight JT-610 took off from the Jakarta airport at 6.20am local time and lost contact at 6.33am. The Boeing 737 was originally scheduled to arrive at Pangkal Pinang at 7.20am.

Debris, life vests and a cellphone have been discovered in the water two nautical miles from the coordinates given as the crash site, SAR officials said. The fuselage has not yet been located.

Boats, a helicopter and 250 rescuers, including divers, were working at the crash site, some 34 nautical miles northeast of the coast near Jakarta in the Java Sea. The frogmen are searching in water up to 35 meters (114 feet) deep.

The 737 MAX 8 is one of the latest versions of a jet that was introduced in 1967. More than 10,000 737s have been produced, making it the best-selling jetliner of all time.

In its statement, Boeing said it was ready to provide technical assistance to accident investigators, and that all questions about the incident should be directed to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC).

Privately owned Lion airlines said that the planes were in operation since August and was considered new, with 800 hours on it.

Just six months ago, a Lion Air plane skidded off the runway at Djalaluddin Airport in Gorontalo, Indonesia. None of the 174 passengers and seven crew members suffered injuries, with the incident destroying the plane’s landing gear.

The last major accident in Indonesia was in December 2014 when AirAsia Indonesia’s Airbus A320 aircraft crashed into the waters after taking off from Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.

In August 2015, a commercial passenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 people on the aircraft.