Alwaght- An aircraft with 189 people on board sunk after crashing into the sea off Indonesia’s island of Java on Monday, shortly after takeoff from the capital on its way to the country’s tin-mining hub, officials announced.
The spokesman for search and rescue agency of the country said the Lion Air flight, JT610, lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff, adding that a tug boat leaving the capital’s port had seen the craft falling.
“It has been confirmed that it has crashed,” the spokesman, Yusuf Latif, said by text message, when asked about the fate of the plane, which air tracking service Flightradar 24 identified as a Boeing 737 MAX 8, according to Reuters news agency.
No official statement is made about the casualties to the moment this news is written.
The crash is expected to stir a debate in the country about the security of aviation, a few months after EU lifted ban on the Indonesian private carriers.
