Indonesia’s Lion Air passenger plane carrying 189 people crashed into the sea, minutes after takeoff. Lion Air plane was leaving the Indonesian capital for Pangkal Pinang when communication was lost after 13 minutes. Flight data showed it made a sudden, sharp dive into the sea.
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An official stated that a tugboat from the Jakarta port had seen the aircraft falling. According to the air tracking service Flightradar 24, the plane was a Boeing 737 MAX 8. Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency has sent boats, helicopter and a team of 130 rescuers.
The specific plane, Boeing 737 Max 8 had only been in use for two months is a new model that was only launched globally last year.
Confirmation from Indonesia’s search and rescue agency came that the plane had crashed after its 6.20am takeoff but there is no news about the casualties yet. A rescue operation has been carried out.
Lion Air’s chief executive officer, Edward Sirait, gave a statement to reporters that the same plane had undergone “a technical issue” two days back, but engineers gave it a green signal to fly.
He said, “This plane previously flew from Denpasar to Jakarta and the technical issue had been resolved according to the procedure.”
During the rescue process, the rescuers posted the videos and photos of wreckage and personal items floating in the water at the crash site, including handbags, clothing, mobile phones, ID cards and driver’s licenses.
Around 20 of the 189 people on board were Indonesian finance department officials who had come to Jakarta for a conference. Another official stated that the cause of the crash could not confirm. The authorities have to wait until the recovery of the plane’s black boxes, cockpit voice recorder and data flight recorder. However, it was confirmed that the pilot had asked to turn back to the airport shortly after take off.
