Budget airline plane with 62 on board crashes shortly after take-0ff

An Indonesian budget airline plane with 62 people on board is suspected to have crashed into the sea shortly after the Boeing passenger jet took off from Jakarta airport on Saturday, authorities were quoted as saying in an AFP report.

Flight tracking data showed the Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plunged into a steep dive about four minutes after it left Soekarno-Hatta international airport.

Sixty-two passengers and crew were on board, including 10 children, the nation’s transport minister, Budi Karya Sumadi, said in the AFP report.

The suspected crash site is near tourist islands just off the coast of Indonesia’s sprawling capital.

Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 was bound for Pontianak on Indonesia’s section of Borneo island, about 90 minutes flying time over the Java Sea.

Distraught relatives waited nervously for news at the city’s airport.