All 189 People On Board Feared Fatally Injured

A Lion Air 737 MAX has gone down in the ocean shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia resulting in the apparent fatal injury of all 189 people on board. It is the first accident involving one of the new Boeing jetliners.

CNN reports that Lion Air flight JT 610 had departed Monday morning at 0620 local time for an hour-long flight from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang on the Indonesian island of Bangka Monday Morning, according to Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency. There were 181 passengers and eight crew on board.

AirNav Indonesia told CNN that the pilot requested a return to Jakarta after traveling only about 12 miles. Contact with the aircraft was lost shortly after that transmission, and radar does not indicate that a turn was made.

Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait told local media that the plane had developed a problem on a flight Sunday night, but that problem had been resolved by the airline's engineers and the plane was cleared to fly.

According to a statement released by Lion Air, the aircraft is a Boeing 737 MAX 8 with registration number PK-LQP. It was manufactured in 2018 and started its operation at Lion Air on August 15, 2018.

The carrier identified the crew in the statement as pilot Capt. Bhavye Suneja and co-pilot Harvino. There were six cabin crew on board; Shintia Melina, Citra Noivita Anggelia, Alviani Hidayatul  Solikha, Damayanti Simarmata, Mery Yulianda, and Deny Maula. The captain has 6,000 flight hours and the co-pilot has more than 5,000 flight hours.

Boeing said in a statement that it "stands ready to provide technical assistance to the accident investigation. In accordance with international protocol, all inquiries about aviation accident investigations must be directed to the Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC)."

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: Source Report