Indonesian rescuers located two black boxes on the Sriwijaya Air jet on 10 January, which crashed soon after take off, with 62 passengers and crew on board. The BOEING 737-500 was headed to Pontianak in West Kalimantan on 9 January, when it disappeared from the radar four minutes after taking off.
On 9 January, the authorities pulled out body parts, pieces of clothing and scraps of metal from the Java Sea, reported The Associated Press (AFP) quoting officials.
PM Narendra Modi offered his condolences to the families of those who died in the plane crash on 10 January.
At a virtual press conference held on 9 January evening, Indonesia's Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 heading from capital city Jakarta to Pontianak city in West Kalimantan province crashed into the waters off the Seribu District in north of Jakarta, Xinhua news agency reported.
The plane departed from the Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta at 2.36 pm local time. According to Sumadi, the last contact with the plane was made by aviation authorities four minutes after its takeoff.
Sumadi said that aboard the Boeing plane were 50 passengers, including seven children and three babies, and 12 crew members.
He said that President Joko Widodo has instructed rescue workers to maximise searching efforts.
‘Our Thoughts with Crew, Passenger, Their Families’: Boeing Responds
Boeing said that the company was in contact with its airline customer and stands ready to support them after the Indonesian Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ-182 crashed.
"We are aware of media reports from Jakarta regarding Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182. Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families," the company said in a statement on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.
On 29 October, 2018, all 189 people aboard were killed after a Boeing 737 Max plane of Indonesia's Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea, shortly after taking off from Jakarta.
In December 2014, an AirAsia plane crashed into the sea en route from Indonesia's second biggest city Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)