Divers in Indonesia have found body parts and wreckage of the passenger plane that went missing with 62 people on board yesterday.
Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 was flying from the capital Jakarta to the island of Borneo when it crashed around four minutes after take-off.
Last contact was made at 2.40pm local time (7.40am Irish time).
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said officials had launched massive search efforts after identifying "the possible location of the crash site" in the Java Sea.
He confirmed that human body parts, pieces of clothing and scraps of metal were found between Lancang Island and Laki Island this morning.
Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto also said in a statement: "We received reports from the diver team that the visibility in the water is good and clear, allowing the discovery of some parts of the plane.
"We are sure that is the point where the plane crashed," he said.
There has been no sign of survivors among the debris of the Boeing 737-500 jet.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged people to pray for the victims.
An Indonesian soldier walks past a map showing the location where a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet has lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after taking off. Credit: AP Photo/Dita AlangkaraTracking service Flightradar24 said on Twitter that the flight "lost more than 10,000ft of altitude in less than one minute" about four minutes after departure.
Sriwijaya Air president Jefferson Irwin Jauwena said the plane, which was 26 years old and previously used by airlines in the United States, was airworthy.
He also revealed it had flown on the same day without issue.
The missing plane is not a Boeing 737 Max, the model involved in two major crashes in recent years - the first of which involved a crash in Indonesia.
The Lion Air 737 MAX, carrying 189 passengers and crew, crashed into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta in October 2018, killing everyone on board.
And in December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore crashed into the sea, killing 162 people.
Reporting by IRN
