An Indonesian plane crashed in the sea on Saturday afternoon shortly after taking off from country’s capital Jakarta with 62 people on board.

BBC reported that Boeing 737-500 plane belonging to the Sriwijaya Air plunged into the sea while making a domestic trip to Pontianak in West Kalimantan. Reuters revealed that Flight SJ 182 lost the radar after taking off at 2:30pm, 30 minutes after the flight has delayed due to the unfriendly weather. And, it then nose-dived 20 kilometres from the airport just minutes after the take-off.

Indonesian authorities confirmed that the plane, which has a capacity of over 200, had only 50 passengers and 12 crew members at the time and no one is expected to have made. All of them are thought to be Indonesian nationals.

There are frantic efforts to locate the scene of crash and to gather more information. Relatives have flocked Pontianak near Jakarta to know the whereabouts their loved ones.

Boeing responds

However, Boeing issued a statement saying the details are still scanty and they are still gathering more news to issue a full statement on the incident.

Company spokesperson said, “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information”.

The Boeing 737-500 came long before the 737 MAX series that has dominated in the public debate over safety issues following crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Apart from this, the Indonesian plane have been on the wrong side of history, after European Union banned them for such concerns in 2007 before the restrictions were rescinded in 2018.