Indonesia Sriwijaya Air passenger plane missing after take-off

A passenger plane with an estimated 62 people on board has gone missing shortly after takeoff from the Indonesian capital Jakarta

The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 lost contact en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province officials said

Flight tracking website Flightradar24com said the aircraft had lost more than 3000m 10000ft in altitude in less than a minute

Witnesses said they had seen and heard at least one explosion

Fisherman Solihin who goes by one name told the BBC Indonesian service he had witnessed a crash and his captain decided to return to land

The plane fell like lightning into the sea and exploded in the water he said

It was pretty close to us the shards of a kind of plywood almost hit my ship

A number of residents of an island near where the plane disappeared told the BBC they had found objects they thought were from the plane

Difficult questions
The transport ministry said search and rescue efforts were under way

It said last contact with the plane with the call sign SJY182 was made at 1440 local time 0740 GMT

There were thought to be 56 passengers and six crew on board though the plane has a capacity of 130

The usual flight time to Pontianak in the west of the island of Borneo is an hourandahalf

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