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A Lion Air jet carrying 189 people crashed in the Java Sea off Indonesia, in potentially the worst commercial aviation disaster in three years.

Flight JT610, operating a brand new Boeing Co. 737 Max 8, took off from the capital Jakarta at 6:20 a.m. local time Monday and lost contact 13 minutes later when it was at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, according to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency. The aircraft was heading for the popular tourist destination of Pangkal Pinang, off Sumatra.

Debris including personal belongings and life vests have been found and ships and helicopters have been deployed to the site, said agency head M. Syaugi. The shallow waters in the area have an average depth of about 150 feet. “We’re trying to dive to locate the plane,” Syaugi said. Authorities earlier said there were 188 people on board.

Based on the number of people on the plane, the incident could be the most lethal since a Russian Metrojet aircraft with 224 people on board crashed in Egypt in 2015.

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Jakarta-based Lion Air, owned by privately held PT Lion Mentari Airlines, is a budget carrier that started operations in 2000. It is among major customers for Boeing and Airbus SE in Asia. In February 2012, Lion Air placed an order for 201 of the in-development 737 Max planes and 29 of the extended range 737-900 aircraft in a $22.4 billion deal valued at list price.

Lion Air flies 183 routes locally as well as to some overseas destinations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and China, according to its website. Its unit Malindo Air was the first in the world to put Boeing’s 737 Max plane into service.

The last major air accident in Indonesia was in December 2014 when AirAsia Indonesia’s Airbus A320 aircraft crashed into the water after taking off from Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-pangkalpinang