Indonesian plane crashes into the sea with more than 180 on board, all feared dead



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JAKARTA, Indonesia – A Lion Air pbadenger plane that took off Monday from Jakarta crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff with 189 people on board, all of whom are feared dead in Indonesia's worst air disaster in recent years.

Authorities quickly launched a search-and-rescue mission but said they do not expect any survivors.

Rescuers soon began pulling debris out of the sea, including parts of the aircraft's fuselage, ID cards and bags belonging to the pbadengers on board. Speaking to an Indonesian television network, a police officer said at least one body has been recovered. People at an offshore refining facility of the aircraft, including plane seats, in the water. Officials said they have no confirmation that anyone has survived.

"My prediction is fully alive and alive," said Bambang Suryo Aji, the national search and rescue agency director of operations. Six body bags have been taken to the hospital, he added, filled with parts of the victim's bodies.

More than 300 rescuers have been deployed from the agency, he said, and are still searching for the main body of the plane.

Lion Air Flight 610 10 minutes after takeoff, abercrombie and fitch, abercrombie and fitch.

The aircraft is piloted to return to Jakarta's airport shortly after takeoff, and its request was cleared by air traffic controllers. The air traffic websites FlightAware and Flightradar24 showed the plane climbing erratically, barely reaching above 5,000 feet, before quickly dropping and disappearing from radar.

Skies were clear, and there were no weather abnormalities.

In a news conference, Lion Air Group's chief executive, Edward Sirait, said the plane, "a new model from Boeing, had a technical issue that was resolved" according to procedure. "He did not give details.

"Let the authorities investigate what happened to it," he added, refusing to speculate on the cause. "But I made sure that this plane was released by our engineers."

Among those on board were two pilots, six flight attendants and two babies, and 20 employees from Indonesia's Finance Ministry. The pilot, Capt. Bhavye Suneja was from India and had more than 6,000 flight hours, and his co-pilot had more than 5,000 hours.

In New Delhi, the pilot's grieving is in the living room of his parents' house on a narrow street in Mayur Vihar, a middle-clbad residential neighborhood in the eastern part of the city. Family members declined to speak to the press.

Anil Gupta, a neighbor, said that Suneja had gone to the Hindu festival of Diwali with his family. Suneja had "wanted to be a pilot since he was a child," Gupta said. "There was so much love for him on this street."

By Monday afternoon, Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Another destination is the Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang, a tin-mining region.

Many people have heard about the crash and the fear of the worst.

Among them was Fitri Sagala, 47, whose brother-in-law, Mangatur Sihombing, boarded Flight 610 that morning. She was at the crisis center with her sister, Mangatur's wife.

"I'm at a loss," she said, explaining that she was a widow and that her brother-in-law was the main provider. "I lost my husband, so he was caring for me and my children."

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesperson for Indonesia's national disaster agency, shared a video on Twitter of rescuers on tugboats looking for debris off the coast of Karawang, an area in West Java close to Jakarta. He also shared pics of mangled cellphones and torn bag that rescuers recovered.

By late Monday afternoon, rescuers had cleared debris from the water's surface and started diving into the sea, which has a depth of about 114 feet. Sonar scanners from naval ships have been deployed to locate crucial wreckage, especially the plane's black box.

Speaking at a news briefing in Bali, where he was attending a conference on oceans, Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged families to remain calm while officials continue to debris.

"We are doing our best to find and save victims, and I continue to pray and hope that the victims can be found soon," Widodo said. He called for the country's prayers and support.

The aircraft, at Boeing 737 Max 8, was purchased this year by Air Lion, Southeast Asia's second-largest low-cost airline. The plane is one of Boeing's newest and had flown several hundred hours since 15. It is located at Pangkal Pinang, the largest city on the Indonesian island of Bangka.

[How multiple disasters stunned experts and ravaged a corner of Indonesia]

"The Boeing Company is deeply saddened by the loss of Flight JT 610." The company said in a statement, "and extends heartfelt sympathies to their families and loved ones. "Boeing stands ready to provide technical badistance to the accident investigation."

Aircraft Makers and Aircraft Makers have long prized Indonesia as one of the fastest growing markets, with a rising middle-clbad. Indonesia is a large archipelago. Domestic Air Traffic has over 12 years to 97 million in 2017. Lion Air controls over 50 percent of this market share, according to the Center for Aviation, an aviation market intelligence firm.

But the country has not yet been approved by the European Union, and it has been withdrawn from the European Union's air safety list and deemed safe in June. Air Lion was allowed to fly in US Airspace in 2016.

Lion Air, established in 1999, is Indonesia's largest budget airline. It has been involved in a number of incidents in recent years, but none with fatalities. One of its jets collided with a plane of another carrier, Wings Air, on the island of Sumatra last year, but no one was injured. In 2013, a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea after landing on the island of Bali. Several were injured, but no one was killed.

In 2004, a Lion Air plane skidded off the runway in heavy rains when it landed in the city of Solo, killing 31.

If all the pbadengers and crew on the aircraft died, it would be the country's second-worst disaster since 1997, when Garuda Airlines crashed crashed to the city of Medan, killing all 234 people on board.

Mahtani reported from Hong Kong. Rohmah reported from Jakarta. Timothy McLaughlin in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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