Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air flight lost contact after taking off from Jakarta, 62 onboard

An Indonesian passenger flight travelling from the capital Jakarta to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province has gone missing minutes after the take-off on January 9. The Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 was carrying more than 50 passengers and had lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, reported flight-tracking website Flightradar24. The rapid depletion of altitude reportedly occurred four minutes after departure from Jakarta airport. 

Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said the Boeing 737-500 took off from Jakarta at about 1:56 pm and lost contact with the control tower at 2:40 pm. The missing plane is currently under investigation and under coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee, Irawati said in a statement.

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A statement released by the airline said the plane was on an estimated 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia's Borneo island. There were 56 passengers and six crew members onboard.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation, with more than 260 million people, has been plagued by transportation accidents on land, sea and air because of overcrowding on ferries, aging infrastructure and poorly enforced safety standards

(Image Credit: @flightradar24/Twitter)