Indonesia: Sriwijaya Air plane loses contact shortly after takeoff

A Sriwijaya Air plane lost contact shortly after takeoff from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Saturday (today).

According to the international news agency, flight tracking showed the flight path of flight SJ182 ending off the coast just north of Jakarta after it lost its altitude.

International sources say that the 59 passengers, including 6 children were onboard.

While I’m hoping for the best, but I have to be realistic.

Advertisement

This… DOES NOT look good at all. #PKCLC #SJ182 #SriwijayaAir pic.twitter.com/nlOsWUCKs1

— Gerry Soejatman (@GerryS) January 9, 2021

The Sriwijaya Plane, Boeing 737-500, took off from from Soekarno-Hatta Airport. It was heading to Pontianak, the provincial capital of West Kalimantan.

Flight tracker website FlightRadar24 reported that the plane lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than a minute.

Five killed due to mid-air collision in France

Five people killed as two small planes have collided in mid-air before crashing in western-central France.

According to the local news source, the collision between two light aircraft took place south-east of the city of Tours at about 16:30 local time (15:30 BST) on Saturday.

Emergency crew, including 50 firefighters, cordoned off the crash sites after they were called to the scene.

BBC reported that the smaller aircraft, a microlight carrying two people, landed on a fence around a house in the town of Loches, situated about 46km (29 miles) south-east of Tours.