Update: Crashed Lion Air JT-610 located at sea, status of 188 passengers still unconfirmed
Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) confirmed that Lion Air flight JT-610 heading from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang crashed shortly after take-off this morning.
As reported by Detik, Basarnas spokesperson Yusuf Latif told the media that the plane crashed off the coast of the West Java regency of Karawang shortly after it slipped off the radar.
The budget airline previously reported that it was attempting to regain contact with the plane, which took off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 6:10am and was expected to touch down in Pangkal Pinang at 7:20am.
AirNav Indonesia this morning also confirmed that JT-610 went off the radar around the area where Basarnas has confirmed that it has crashed.
We're following reports that contact has been lost with Lion Air flight #JT610 shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.
ADS-B data from the flight is available at https://t.co/zNM33cM0na pic.twitter.com/NIU7iuCcFu
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 29, 2018
Officials have yet to determine the cause of the crash.
It’s not clear how many people were on board the flight, but the JT-610 uses a Boeing 737-Max 8, which seats up to 200 passengers.
We’ll have more on this breaking news story as more information becomes available.
