Indonesia plane crashes into sea, 188 on board

A Lion Air flight with at least 188 people on board is believed to have sunk after crashing into the sea off Indonesia’s island of Java on Monday, shortly after take off from the capital on its way to the country’s tin-mining hub, officials said.

"The aircraft was carrying 178 adult passengers, one child and two babies, with two pilots and five flight attendants," said Sindu Rahayu, directorate general of Civil Aviation at the transport ministry.

"The plane had requested to return to base before finally disappearing from the radar," he added in a statement.

Indonesia's search and rescue agency said the flight from Jakarta, the capital, to the city of Pangkal Pinang off the island of Sumatra, lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff.

Debris thought to be from the plane, including aircraft seats, was found near an offshore refining facility, an official of state energy firm Pertamina said.

"We don’t know yet whether there are any survivors," Syaugi told a news conference. "We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm."

Flight JT610 took off around 6.20 am (local time) and was due to have landed in the capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining region at 7.20 am (local time), the Flightradar 24 website showed.

A telegram from the National Search and Rescue Agency to the air force has requested assistance with the search of a location at sea off Java.

Lion Air is one of Indonesia's youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

In 2013, one of its Boeing 737-800 jets missed the runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 people on board.

Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands but has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered several fatal crashes in recent years.

A 12-year-old boy was the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed eight people in mountainous eastern Indonesia in August.

In August 2015, a commercial passenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 people on board.