An Indonesian fisherman has recalled the moment he saw the Boeing 737 plane with 62 people onboard crash into the sea.
The Sriwijaya Air jet lost contact with the control room just four minutes into its journey from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province.
Speaking to the BBC, a fisherman called Solihin explained what happened as he witnessed the crash: "The plane fell like lightning into the sea and exploded in the water.
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"It was pretty close to us, the shards of a kind of plywood almost hit my ship."
Navy official Abdul Rasyid said that the coordinates have been found and given to 'all Navy vessels in the area' in a bid to find the missing aircraft.
Basarnas deputy chief, Major General Bambang Suyo Aji, told reporters: "Search operations will continue 24 hours a day, focusing on the area where debris probably belonging to the plane were found."
The plane is believed to have dropped more than 3,000 metres (10,000 foot) in less than a minute, according to Flightradar24.com - a website that tracks flights.
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Flightradar24 tweeted: "Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10.000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.
"We are downloading and processing granular ADS-B data for flight #SJ182 We will publish the data in the next hours."
It is believed that there were 50 passengers on board, including seven children and three babies - as well as 12 crew members.
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Families of those feared missing have been waiting at the airport in Pontianak with one telling reporters: "I have four family members on the flight - my wife and my three children.
"[My wife] sent me a picture of the baby today... How could my heart not be torn into pieces?"
Earlier today the Deputy Chairman of the Seribu Regency Council, Jefri, confirmed that officers and local residents have pulled parts out of the waters of Male Island, Kepulauan Seribu.
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LADbible has contacted Sriwijaya Air for a comment.
Featured Image Credit: PA
