The Street Articles

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A plane carrying 189 people from Jakarta to a smaller Indonesian city crashed into the Java Sea on Monday, prompting hard questions about the safety of the skies over a vast island nation dependent on air travel. Lion Air Flight 610 had been flying north from the capital, Jakarta, to the city of Pangkal Pinang on the island of Bangka when it went missing minutes after takeoff, officials said. The National Search and Rescue Agency said that a tugboat crew saw the plane crash in Karawang Bay northeast of Jakarta and that skies were clear. By Monday afternoon, officials speculated that no one had survived. “I suspect all the passengers are dead,” said Marine Brig. Gen. Bambang Suryo, director of operations for the search and rescue agency. Yohanes Sirait, a spokesman for the country’s air navigation authorities, said that the aircraft crew had requested permission to turn around minutes after takeoff. “The request was permitted,” Mr. Sirait said. “Then