A Boeing 737 passenger jet with 62 people onboard is believed to have crashed into the sea after plummeting 10,000 feet shortly following takeoff from Jakarta, with witnesses claiming they heard two explosions.

A fisherman, named Solihin, told the BBC that he had been at sea when he witnessed the plane crash into the water near to his ship: 'The plane fell like lightning into the sea and exploded in the water. It was pretty close to us, the shards of a kind of plywood almost hit my ship.' 

National Transportation Safety Committee chairman Suryanto Cahyono (centre) speaks to the media about Sriwijaya Air flight SJY182 at the Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Tangerang

Families of the passengers and crew are fearing the worse after rescuers looking for the jet say they have discovered suspected debris in the ocean north of the capital.

Source: Daily Mail Online