A Lion Air flight capable of carrying up to 189 passengers has crashed during a short flight from the Indonesian capital Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, according to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.
A spokesman for the low-cost carrier confirmed to CNN affiliate CNN Indonesia that it had lost contact with Lion Air flight JT 610 Monday morning, local time.
The plane took off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Greater Jakarta at 6.21 a.m. local time, and had been due to land at around 7:30 a.m. in Pangkal Pinan, the largest city on the Indonesian island of Bangka.
The flight was last recorded in the Thousand Islands regency, an archipelago north of Jakarta.
Search and rescue authorities told CNN they will hold a press conference shortly to provide more details on the plane crash.
It is unlikely that weather played a part in the accident. While there were thunderstorms in the general area, there weren’t any storms over the location where the plane apparently vanished from radar, according to CNN meteorologist Haley Brink.
