Jakarta, January 9: A domestic flight in Indonesia went off the radar on Saturday shortly after take off. The flight, Sriwijaya Air's SJY 182, took off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport and was scheduled to land at Pontianak in West Kalimantan region. Minutes after take off, the flight lost the signal and aviation authorities could not trace its whereabouts. Boeing 737 MAX is Safe, Says European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

As per the preliminary reports, the plane which has went missing was of Boeing 737-500 module. The aviation department, along with the disaster management teams, had launched a search operation to trace the flight.

The incident took place in the afternoon, confirmed Adita Irawati, the Indonesian Transport Ministry spokesperson. She was reported as saying by the local media that the last contact was made with the plane at 2:20 pm.

“At this point, we are investigating and coordinating the matter with Basarnas (the search and rescue agency) and KNKT (the transport safety body). We will release more information as soon as there are developments," SCMP reported her as saying.

Update by ASN

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The flight was reportedly carrying a total of 59 passengers. According to flight tracker website FlightRadar24, the plane lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than a minute. This claim was yet to be confirmed by the Indonesian aviation department.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 09, 2021 04:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).