Indonesian Boeing Passenger Plane Feared Crashed Into Java Sea

(RTTNews) - A Boeing 737-500 passenger plane carrying 62 people is believed to have crashed into the Java sea shortly after take-off from Indonesia's capital Jakarta on Saturday, according to reports citing state transportation officials.

The Sriwijaya Air plane, which lost contact four minutes after take-off, was headed from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia's Borneo island.

The plane was reportedly carrying 56 passengers and 6 crew members.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24.com said that Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 crashed shortly after take off from Jakarta on Saturday. The flight departed at 07:36 UTC or 14:36 local time. The last signal from the aircraft was received by Flightradar24 at 07:40 UTC.

The aircraft took off at 07:36 UTC and climbed to a maximum altitude of 10,900 feet at 07:40:06. The aircraft then began a steep descent and the last received data from the aircraft was 250 feet at 07:40:27, Flightradar24.com said.

The Flight tracking website noted that the Sriwijaya Air took delivery of the aircraft in 2012. It was originally delivered to Continental Airlines in 1994. The aircraft was operated by two CFM56-3C1 engines.

On Thursday, Boeing agreed to pay $2.51 billion to settle a U.S. criminal charge related to a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in connection with the development of the 737 Max aircraft, which suffered two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed 346 lives aboard the aircraft.