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All 189 pbadenger and crew aboard a crashed Indonesian jet were "likely" killed in the accident, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said Monday, as it announced it had found.
"My prediction is that nobody survived because they were dead," agency director Bambang Suryo Aji told reporters.
It was not yet known that there were any foreigners on board.
The Boeing-737 MAX, which went into service just months ago, vanished from radar 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta, plunging into the Java Sea moments after it was asked to return to the Indonesian capital.
Websites that display speeded up speed as soon as possible.
Video footage apparently filmed at the scene of the crash shows a slick of fuel on the surface of the water.
Pictures also emerged from debris, including what appeared to be an emergency slide, and bits of wreckage bearing Lion Air's logo.
The plane had been on the road to Pangkal Pinang city, when it was dropped out of contact around 6.30 am (2330 GMT).
A search and rescue operation swung into gear, with organizers saying 30 to 40 meters deep.
Images filmed at Pangkal Pinang's showing off families of pbadengers crying and hugging each other, with some yelling "Oh god".
"This morning is called for your son," said Ermayati, referring to his 45-year-old husband Muhammed Syafii, who was on board.
Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) said there were 178 adult pbadengers, one child, two infants, two pilots and six cabin crew on board flight JT 610.
The transport ministry had initially had a total of 188 people on board. The finance ministry said around 20 of its employees were on the plane.
"I still hope for a miracle that some pbadengers are still alive," said Sendi Arika, whose uncle was on the flight.
Lion Air said the plane had only gone into service in August.
The pilot and co-pilot had more than 11,000 hours of flying time between them, had recent medical checkups and had undergone drug testing, it added.
Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait said the plane had an unspecified technical issue fixed in Bali before it was flown back to Jakarta.
"Engineers in Jakarta received notes and did another repair before it took off" on Monday, Edward Sirait told AFP, calling it "normal procedure".
– Poor safety record –
US-based Boeing said it was "deeply saddened" by news of the crash.
Indonesia connects heavily to air in the world of aviation safety record and has suffered several fatal crashes in recent years.
In August 2015, a commercial pbadenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 people on board.
In 2014, an AirAsia plane crashed with the loss of 162 lives, with chronically faulty component in a rudder control system, poor maintenance and the pilots' inadequate response blamed.
Lion, a low-cost airline that has been involved in a huge expansion in recent years, has been involved in a number of incidents including a fatal 2004 crash.
Last year one of its Boeing jets collided with a plane at Kualanamu airport on the island of Sumatra, although no one was injured.
In May 2016, two Lion Air planes collided at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport, while a month earlier an aircraft operated by Batik Air – part of the Lion Group – clipped to TransNusa plane.
However, in 2004, two dozen people were killed when a flight of Jakarta skidded off a rain-slicked runway after landing in the Central Java city of Solo.
Earlier this year, Air Lion announced 50 Boeing 737 Max 10 jets for $ 6.24 billion.
Boeing, 737 Max in May last year, reportedly suspended its release due to an engine issue, according to airlineratings.com.
It said the engines were a product of a US-based joint venture between General Electric and France's Safran Aircraft Engines.
Indonesia is booming, with the number of domestic pbadengers growing significantly over the past decade, but it has gained a reputation for poor regulation.
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