Indonesian passenger flight had requested to return base before minutes before disappearing

The Indonesian passenger flight, that crashed into the sea presumably killing all 188 persons on-board, had reportedly requested to return to base before going off the radar. 

The Lion Air flight JT610 lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, the capital of the island nation.

Minutes before losing contact with ground officials, the aircraft requested to turn back, said an air navigation spokesman, as reported by Reuters.  

"The plane had requested to return to base before finally disappearing from the radar," Sindu Rahayu, directorate general of Civil Aviation at Indonesia transport ministry, told AFP. He added that the aircraft was carrying 178 adult passengers, one child and two babies, with two pilots and five flight attendants. 

The aircraft was headed for a key tin-mining region Pangkal Pinang. At least 23 government officials were aboard the plane.

A tugboat leaving the Jakarta port saw it fall.

"We don`t know yet whether there are any survivors," agency head Muhmmad Syaugi told a news conference, adding that no distress signal had been received from the aircraft`s emergency transmitter. "We hope, we pray, but we cannot confirm."

The weather at the time of the crash was clear, said officials.

Videos and images tweeted by disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho showed debris floating on water and a slick of fuel on the surface of the water.

 

Serpihan pesawat Lion Air JT 610 yang jatuh di Perairan Karawang banyak ditemukan mengapung di permukaan laut. Kapal USV Fulmar menemukan serpihan berupa pelampung, HP dan lainnya. Basarnas dibantu Kementerian Perhubungan, TNI, Polri & relawan terus lakulan evakuasi. pic.twitter.com/A4wjeoE5tl — Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) October 29, 2018

 

The images showed parts of smashed mobile phones and life vests floating on water about 30 metres to 35 metres (98 to 115 ft) deep near where the site of crash, as identified by air tracking service Flightradar 24.

The aircraft maker, Boeing, released a statement expressing grief over the incident and confirmed that it was a 737 MAX 8 – recently acquired by the private aviation company Lion Air.

The accident is the first to be reported involving the widely-sold Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer`s workhorse single-aisle jet.

Recovery of the aircraft's black box is the current priority, say officials.

"We are preparing to depart to the location," said Soerjanto Tjahjono. "The plane is so modern, it transmits data from the plane, and that we will review too. But the most important is the black box."

The flight took off from Jakarta around 6.20 a.m. and was due to have landed in the capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining region at 7.20 a.m., the Flightradar 24 website showed.

Further data shows the first sign of something amiss was around two minutes into the flight when the plane had just reached 2,000 feet (610 m). 

Then it descended more than 500 feet (152 m) and veered to the left before climbing again to 5,000 feet (1,524 m), where it stayed during most of the rest of the flight. 

It began gaining speed in the final moments and reached 345 knots (397 mph) before data was lost when it was at 3,650 feet (1,113 m).

Its last recorded position was about 15 km (9 miles) north of the Indonesian coast, according to a Google Maps reference of the last coordinates from Flightradar24.

 

With agency inputs