Missing Indonesian plane feared to have crashed into the sea

Search teams were scouring dark waters off the coast of the Indonesian capital late on Saturday after a passenger plane with 62 people on board lost contact shortly after take-off, officials said. The fate of the plane operated by Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air and its passengers remained unclear hours after the Boeing 737-524 aircraft disappeared from the radar minutes after taking off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The domestic flight had been en route to Pontianak on Borneo island, said Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi. “We are concerned about this incident,” he said at a news conference to announce a search operation for the aircraft had been mounted. Without confirming the crash, the deputy of operations at the National Search and Rescue Agency, Bambang Suryo Aji, said the plane was estimated to have plunged into the sea between Laki Island and Lancang Island in the Thousand Island group off Jakarta. (DPA)