A Sriwijaya Air passenger transport plane lost contact with the control tower this Saturday after taking off from Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a country located on the Asian continent, according to authorities.
Adita Irawat, a spokesperson for the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation, said the aircraft, a Boeing 737-500, took off from Jakarta around 1:56 p.m. local time and lost contact with the control tower at 2:40 p.m. .
This is flight SJY 182.
"The missing plane is currently under investigation, in coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee," Irawati said in a statement.
The flight monitoring website flightradar24.com confirmed that he lost 10,000 feet of elevation (about 3,000 meters) in one minute, four minutes after his departure.
Sixty-two passengers and crew members boarded the flight, according to The Associated Press news agency.
News in development. Check back for more updates.
With information from NBC News, AP, BBC, The Guardian.
