Five children, including an infant were among the passengers of the Boeing 737.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – An Indonesian Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 passenger plane went missing a few minutes after takeoff, and appears to have crashed near Seribu Island, north of Jakarta, an area called Thousand Islands.
Local residents told news media that they heard a loud bang, although at first, they did not know what might have caused it.
Rescue teams reached the scene of the disaster and found several pieces of the plane (pictured).
The point of impact lies between Seribu, Laci and Lancand islands.
The plane left at 2.46 pm (West Indonesian Time, WIT) from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and was due to arrive at 3.44 pm at Supadio-Pontianak Airport in West Kalimantan province, but minutes after take-off, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft.
A total of 59 people were on board, including the crew; five were children and a newborn baby.
Lian, from Jakarta, is anguished. A couple of her friends from Ketapang (West Kalimantan) were on the plane. “I'm really shocked by this tragedy,” she told AsiaNews.
Today's is the first air disaster of 2021, but it is not the first to involve a Boeing. In 2018, a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max passenger jet crashed into the Java Sea, killing 179 people.
On 10 March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia, killing 157 passengers and crew.
After these two accidents, all Boeing 737 Max were grounded for inspection.