A passenger jet with 188 people on board has crashed into the sea just minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s capital.

The country’s disaster agency posted photos online of a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the Lion Air aircraft fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels that have converged on the area.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the aircraft, on a 70 minute flight to Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra, was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and seven crew members.

The National Search and Rescue Agency said the flight ended in waters off West Java that are 98 to 115ft deep.

The agency’s chief Muhammad Syaugi told a news conference that divers are trying to locate the wreckage.

The Boeing 737-800 plane departed Jakarta, about 6.20am for Pangkal Pinang.

Data for Flight 610 on aircraft tracking website FlightAware ends just a few minutes following takeoff.

Indonesian TV showed dozens of people waiting anxiously outside the Pangkal Pinang airport and officials bringing out plastic chairs.

Source Associated Press / Yahoo, read more