WEB DESK
Indonesian authorities were still searching for the remains of the privately owned budget carrier Lion Airplane which crashed into the Java sea on Monday morning.
The plane was carrying 188 passengers and crew. It lost contact with air traffic control around 6.30 am en route to Pangkal Pinang on the island of Bangka.
Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja captained the ill-fated Indonesian plane with co-pilot Harvino.
Captain Suneja, originally from New Delhi, was a resident of Jakarta. The Indian embassy in Jakarta has confirmed the death of Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja in the plane crash.
A Lion Air flight carrying 189 people crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta.
Officials say it is unlikely that anybody survived. pic.twitter.com/VyXkbJ1KMX
— AJ+ (@ajplus) October 29, 2018
Accprding to reports the flight took off from Jakarta at around 6.20 a.m. and was due to have landed in Pangkal Pinang, capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining region, at 7.20 a.m.
Distraught relatives of those on board arrived at the airport in Jakarta and Pangkal Pinang.
“Be patient, pray the best for papa,” one woman arriving at Jakarta airport told a sobbing girl.