Indonesian plane with 189 aboard crashes into sea near Jakarta
The accident is the first to be reported involving the widely sold Boeing 737 MAX
Jakarta — An aircraft with 189 people on board is believed to have sunk after crashing into the sea off Indonesia’s Java island on Monday, shortly after takeoff from the capital on its way to the country’s tin-mining hub, officials said. The plane was airworthy, and had been operated by Lion Air only since August, the company said. Its pilot and co-pilot had together amassed 11,000 hours of flying time. Manufacturer Boeing was aware of the accident reports and was “closely monitoring” the situation, a Boeing spokesman told Reuters. A spokesman for Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said the Lion Air flight JT610 lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff. A tug boat leaving the capital’s port had seen the plane falling, he said. “It has been confirmed that it has crashed,” the spokesman, Yusuf Latif, said by text message, when asked about the fate of the plane, which air-tracking service Flightradar 24 identified as a Boeing 737 MAX 8. Debris thought to be from the plane, including air...
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