Indonesian officials say there are likely no survivors after a Lion Air flight with 189 passengers and crew on board crashed into the sea 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta.
Indonesia's search and rescue agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho posted photos of debris on Twitter, including a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels.
Nugroho said that among the passengers were one child and two babies. Italian pro cyclist Andrea Manfredi died in the crash, according to reports in local and Italian media. Several bodies are reported to have been recovered.
The search and rescue agency deployed divers in their search for the main wreckage of the plane that crashed north of Java Island.
The plane went down in waters about 30 meters to 35 meters deep. Rescue officials said they had recovered some human remains from the crash site, about 15 kilometers off the coast.
The Lion Air Flight JT610 took off at about 6.20 a.m. local time and was due to land in the capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining region at 7.20 a.m local time., according to Flightradar 24 website.
The accident is the first reported that involves a Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, widely-sold aircraft that is more fuel-efficient.
The plane maker said on a tweet that it was aware of an airplane accident and was “closely monitoring” the situation.
