No Armenians among passengers, crew of crashed Indonesian Lion Air flight JT610 – preliminary information

According to preliminary reports there were no Armenians – neither citizens nor ethnic – among the passengers or crew of the Indonesian plane that crashed shortly after takeoff in Jakarta on October 29, foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan told ARMENPRESS.

An aircraft with 189 people on board has crashed into the sea off Indonesia’s island of Java on Monday, shortly after takeoff from the capital on its way to the country’s tin-mining hub, Reuters reported citing local officials.

A spokesman for Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said the Lion Air flight, JT610, lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff, adding that a tug boat leaving the capital’s port had seen the craft falling.

“It has been confirmed that it has crashed,” the spokesman, Yusuf Latif, said by text message, when asked about the fate of the plane, which air tracking service Flightradar 24 identified as a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

Its pilot and co-pilot had together amassed 11,000 hours of flying time, Lion Air said in a statement.

Manufacturer Boeing is aware of the airplane accident reports and is “closely monitoring” the situation, its spokesman told Reuters.