Nsikak Ibatt
Air traffic control in Indonesia lost contact with a Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 passenger plane with 62 onboard shortly after it took off from Jakarta on Saturday, the official has said.
The domestic flight took off from the capital at 13:56 (7:56 CET) local time heading for Pontianak on the island of Borneo, government spokesman Adita Irawati said.
It went missing shortly after 14:40 (8:40 CET).
Flight tracker website FlightRadar24 showed Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 disappear from radars shortly after takeoff, losing more than 3km of altitude in under a minute.
A statement released by the airline said the plane was on an estimated 90-minute flight with 56 passengers and six crew members on board.
A search and rescue operation was underway, Irawati said in a statement.
