BANGKOK — Indonesia ’s Transportation Ministry said on Saturday that it had failed to contact with a Sriwijaya Air plane after it took off from the capital, Jakarta, and flew over the Java Sea.
In an announcement, Sriwijaya Air stated that they were “in contact with various related parties to get more detailed information” concerning the event and that they will “immediately issue an official statement” when more report was clear.Flight SJY 182 lost communication 11 nautical miles north of Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta International Airport at an altitude of 11,000 feet while climbing to 13,000 feet, Antara reported.
The country’s aviation safety commission stated it was on high alert and that the transport minister was reaching the international airport in Jakarta. Patrol boats are heading to waters northwest of Jakarta where the plane was last seen, the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency said.
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, Basarnas, has advanced a ship to the Thousands Islands — a chain of islands to the north of Jakarta’s coast — to investigate the location where the plane is assumed to have lost contact, Cahyono said.The Transport Ministry said it is investigating and coordinating with Basarnas and the National Committee for Transport Safety.
According to Flightradar24, the flight-tracking service, a few minutes after taking off, the 26-year-old plane went below more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute.
In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet slammed into the Java Sea about 12 minutes after take-off from Jakarta on a routine one-hour flight.
