Breaking: Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, with 62 onboard, lost contact and feared crashed

The Boeing 737-500 belonging to the Indonesia-based airline that went missing today shortly after take-off lost up to 10,000 feet in altitude within a minute, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24.

The highest altitude the aircraft reached was 10,900 feet, while the last altitude it recorded was 250 feet. Indonesian transport minister Budi Karya told a news conference that 62 people had been aboard, including 12 crew. The authorities have started search and rescue operations for the missing plane with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee, according to ministry spokesman.

The government have sent a search vessel from Jakarta to plane’s last known location in the Java Sea. First responders were also deployed to the site to aid potential survivors, local TV reported. No radio beacon signal had been detected, Bagus Puruhito, head of the country’s search and rescue agency Basarnas.

The plane took off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport and 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. FlightRadar24 data showed the plane was a Boeing 737-500 series. “A Sriwijaya (Air) plane from Jakarta to Pontianak (on Borneo island) with call sign SJY182 has lost contact,” said ministry spokesman Adita Irawati.

“The Boeing 737-500 took off from Jakarta at about 1:56 p.m. and lost contact with the control tower at 2:40 p.m.,” the ministry added, according to AP. “Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10.000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta,” Flightradar24 reported.

“ADS-B signal from flight #SJ182 was lost at 07:40:27 UTC time. The flight was en route from Jakarta to Pontianak in Indonesia,” Flightradar24 said. The 737 first flew in May 1994, according to Flightradar. A Boeing 737 MAX operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed off Jakarta in late 2018, killing all 189 passengers and crew.

The plane that lost contact on Saturday is a much older model. “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation,” Boeing spokeswoman Zoe Leong said in a statement. Sriwijaya Air said in a statement it is still gathering more detailed information regarding the flight. The airlines said it would release an official statement later.