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Photo taken from lionairthai.com[/caption]
JAKARTA - A passenger plane travelling from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang in Indonesia has crashed into the sea, according to the country’s search and rescue agency.
“It has been confirmed that it has crashed,” Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the agency, said by text message, when asked about the fate of the plane.
The Lion Air Flight JT610 had lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff, according to officials.
The jet was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, which can carry up to 200 passengers, according to air tracking service Flightradar 24.
It was not immediately clear how many people were on board.
“We cannot give any comment at this moment, said Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group. “We are trying to collect all the information and data.”
A search and rescue effort has been launched for the plane, which departed Jakarta about 6.20am on Monday.
Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said “we can confirm that one of our flights has lost contact, its position cannot be ascertained yet.”
