Indonesia jet carrying 62 missing on domestic flight

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A passenger jet carrying 62 people went missing Saturday after departing from Indonesia's capital. 

Sriwijaya Air 182, a domestic flight, took off from Jakarta at approximately 1:56 p.m. local time, losing contact with air traffic controllers at 2:40 p.m., according to Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati.

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In a statement, Irawati said search and rescue efforts were underway and that the ministry was working with assistance from the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee.

Sriwijaya Air reported that the Boeing 737-500 had been scheduled for a 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan.

There were 56 passengers and six crew members aboard and the aircraft-maker – which typically works with investigators in such cases — told Fox News on Saturday that it was gathering information on what happened.

"We are aware of media reports from Jakarta and are closely monitoring the situation," the Chicago-based company said.

The Associated Press reported that metal objects believed to be parts of a plane were discovered Saturday afternoon in the Thousand Islands just north of Jakarta.

This is not the first time a Boeing 737 has disappeared after taking off from Jakarta. 

In October 2018, a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 189 people on board. That crash and another months later in Ethiopia led to the global grounding of the MAX, a new iteration of Boeing's widely-flown single-aisle aircraft.

U.S. regulators only recently approved the aircraft's return to commercial flight. The 737-500 is a much older version of the plane, introduced in the 1980s.

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Like Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air is one of Indonesia’s low-cost carriers, with flights both to domestic and international destinations.

Fox News’ Travis Fedschun and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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