Earlier today, a Lion Air plane, which lost contact shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, crashed in the sea. The plane, which was on its way to Pangkal Pinang took off at around 6:20 am local time and lost contact at 6:33 am local time. According to flightradar, the preliminary data show an increase in speed and decrease in altitude at last transmission.
The Boeing 737 flight had 181 passengers onboard including one child and two infants as well as six crew members and two pilots. Boats, helicopters and a team of 130 rescuers is deployed at the crash site, 34 nautical miles off the coast near Jakarta. Debris, life vests and a cell phone have reportedly been discovered about two nautical miles from the crash site.
Six months ago, a Lion Air plane had skidded off the runway at Djalaluddin Airport in Gorontalo, Indonesia. While none of the 174 passengers and 7 crew members suffered any injury, the incident destroyed plane’s landing gear.
In 2006, the European Union had banned Lion Air from flying to any of the member countries, deeming it ‘unsafe’. However, after an almost decade long ban, the EU lifted the same in 2016 and gave a green light to Indonesia’s low-cost carrier to fly to Europe.