Boeing 737 Crashes After Takeoff From Indonesian Capital Of Jakarta (Update)

A Boeing Co BA plane that departed from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta crashed shortly after takeoff with 62 people on board.

What Happened: The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737, flight number SJY 182 headed to the Indonesian city of Pontianak, lost contact on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time, according to Indonesia's Antara News Agency. That's 2:40 a.m. Saturday morning Eastern Standard Time in the U.S.

The plane reportedly crashed near an island about 20 kilometers from the airport. Debris was reportedly spotted on nearby Lancang Island. 

Search operations are underway.

Sriwijaya Airlines CEO Jefferson Irwin Jauwena told press that the plane was in good condition before it took off.

A Boeing spokeswoman told Reuters that the company is working to gather more information.

Why It Matters: Though the plane involved is a different, older model, the news has eerie echoes of the troubles that beset Boeing over its 737 MAX model beginning in 2018. In October of that year, a Lion Air 737 MAX crashed after taking off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

That crash was followed by another in Ethiopia the following March, also shortly after takeoff, from Addis Ababa. The crash of the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX killed all 157 on board.

The crashes led to the grounding of the MAX model and difficult questions for Boeing, which has been made to answer them as recently as yesterday, when it agreed to to a $2.5 billion criminal investigation settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the crashes.

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