Indonesian plane with 188 on board crashes off Jakarta

A Lion Air Boeing passenger plane carrying 188 people on board requested air control for return, minutes after taking off from here, before crashing into the sea on Monday. A rescue and search operation is underway, officials said.

"Several pieces of Lion Air JT 610 aircraft that crashed in the waters of Karawang (was found)," Head of the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management Sutopo Purwo Nugroho tweeted. 

The budget airline's aircraft was carrying 178 adult passengers, a child, two babies with two pilots and five flight attendants, Nugroho said, adding that the National Search and Rescue Agency, Basarnas, and the Ministry of Transportation were "handling" the situation. 

"Some ships tug boats were on location," he added.