Lion Air crash - live updates: Indonesia rescue teams expect no survivors after plane carrying 189 smashes into sea soon after take-off
Around 300 people involved in search and rescue operation as body parts recovered from wreckage
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Your support makes all the difference.An Indonesian plane carrying 189 people crashed into the sea and sank minutes after taking off from the capital, Jakarta.
The Lion Air flight, JT610, lost contact with ground officials 13 minutes after takeoff, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said. The agency posted photos online showing a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage which had been collected by search and rescue vessels.
Around 300 people, including soldiers, police and local fishermen were involved in the search – which has so far recovered body parts, ID cards, personal belongings and aircraft debris.
Lion Air said the brand-new Boeing 737, which was on a 1-hour-and-10-minute flight to Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra, was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and eight crew members.
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The head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, Muhmmad Syaugi, has told a news conference no distress signal had been received from the aircraft's emergency transmitter.
At least 23 government officials, four employees of state tin miner PT Timah and three employees of a Timah subsidiary, were on the plane.
A Lion Air official said one Italian passenger and an Indian pilot were on board.
On tarpaulins at Jakarta's port, officers have laid out items retrieved from the sea ranging from oxygen bottles to personal belongings such as wallets, a mobile phone, cash and backpacks.
The country's transport minister, Budi Karya Sumadi, said nine body bags had been taken to a hospital for identification, though officials said they contained body parts, not intact remains.
Bambang Suryo, operational director of the search and rescue agency, has said divers had stopped the search for the night, but sonar vessels would continue hunting for the fuselage, where many of the victims were believed to be trapped.
An underwater drone is also trying to find the wreckage, he added.
EU president Jean-Claude Juncker has written to president Widodo on behalf of the EU Commission, offering European help.
He tweeted: "It was with deep sadness that I learnt about the loss of so many lives in the plane crash."
His letter to Mr Widodo read: "I commend the efforts of your emergency services, and assure you that the relevant European authorities are ready to provide any necessary assistance, should you request it."
Rescue workers have retrieved six bodies from the sea where the passenger plane crashed, it has been reported.
Bambang Suryo Aji, director of operations for the search-and-rescue agency, said the bodies had been taken to a hospital in east Jakarta, according to CNN.
Aji told a news conference that debris that appeared to be the plane's tail had been found. The main wreckage had still not been located.
Search teams were working against high waves and strong currents, in an area spanning 150 nautical miles, added Aji. Underwater robots were being used, CNN said.
The US National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing said they were helping the investigation.
Boeing said it was "providing technical assistance at the request and under the direction of government authorities investigating the accident."
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