The Indonesian Minister of Transport confirmed that a passenger plane of Sriwijaya Airlines has crashed in the Java Sea, after taking off from Jakarta airport on Saturday, on its way to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province.
Local media reported that the plane, a Boeing 737-500 type, was carrying at least 50 people.
Earlier, Indonesian media announced that all contact had been lost with a Sriwijaya Airlines plane after it took off from the capital, Jakarta.
Sriwijaya Airlines said in a statement that it was still gathering more detailed information about the flight before making any statement.
It confirmed that search and rescue operations had begun after contact with the plane was lost.
Flight Radar 24, an aircraft tracking service, reported on Twitter that the SG182 flight descended more than 10,000 feet from the altitude it was flying in less than a minute, about four minutes after takeoff.
