Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air Plane Feared To Have Crashed After Taking Off From Jakarta

A Sriwijaya Air plane carrying 62 people on board is feared to have crashed shortly after it took off from Jakarta early this morning.

According to CNN, Indonesia’s Head Of National Transportation Safety Committee, Suryanto Cahyono, announced that the aircraft, Sriwijaya Air flight 182 from Jakarta to Pontianak, in Indonesian Borneo, lost contact at 2:40 a.m. ET, early Saturday morning.

Indonesia’s Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi said the missing Indonesian plane was carrying 50 passengers- including 7 children and 43 adults, plus 12 crew members, during a press conference.

Three fishermen from Lancang Island told CNN they heard an explosion earlier this morning that one man described as “a bomb on the water” and then experienced a sudden large wave around the time the plane was suspected of having gone missing.

“I heard very loud explosion. I thought it was a bomb or a big thunder. We then saw the big wave, about 2 meters high, hitting our boat,” fisherman Hendrik Mulyadi told the news outlet.

While the men admitted they didn’t see a plane crash into the sea, they did smell fuel and spotted debris shortly after. The fishermen men then returned to shore to report their experience to the police.

Maj. Gen Bambang Suryo Aji of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, Basarnas, told reporters that the plane is believed to have crashed between the islands of Laki and Lancang.

An unidentified high-ranking officer of Basarnas confirmed to reporters that debris had been found around Lancang Island, approximately 20 miles from Jakarta and the investigation is underway.