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Contact lost with Indonesian jet Contact lost with Indonesian jet
(about 1 hour later)
Contact has been lost with a passenger plane flying between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sulawesi, aviation officials have said.Contact has been lost with a passenger plane flying between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sulawesi, aviation officials have said.
The Adam Air plane is a Boeing 737-400 with 96 passengers and six crew members on board. The Boeing 737-400 has 96 passengers and six crew on board.
Adam Air said it was investigating what had happened to Flight KI-574. The Adam Air plane reportedly left Surabaya in Java at 1300 local time (0600 GMT) on a two-hour flight to Manado in northern Sulawesi.
The plane left Surabaya in Java at 1300 local time (0600 GMT) on a two-hour flight to Manado in northern Sulawesi, a transport ministry official said. Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said it had sent out a distress signal and rescue teams had been sent to find it.
Contact was lost at 35,000ft, when the plane was a hour away from its destination, Ichsan Tatang added. It was believed to be near Mamuju, in southern Sulawesi, 750km southwest of its destination, but may have come down in the sea.
Severe storms
It was not clear why contact was lost, and there was no information as yet on the condition of the plane or its passengers, Mr Radjasa said.
Contact was lost at 35,000ft, when the plane was an hour away from its destination, a ministry official added.
An air traffic controller told local TV the aircraft had hit "very bad" weather and would have run out of fuel if it had not already landed.An air traffic controller told local TV the aircraft had hit "very bad" weather and would have run out of fuel if it had not already landed.
Adam Air, a privately owned airline based in Jakarta, began operations in 2003. The area has been subjected to high winds and severe storms in the last few days. About 400 people are still missing after a passenger ship sank off Java on Saturday morning.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jakarta says Indonesia has a chequered flight safety record including several major crashes.
Last year near 150 people were killed when a plane crashed into a busy road shortly after taking off from Medan on the island of Sumatra.
Adam Air, a privately owned low-cost airline based in Jakarta, began operations in 2003.