Lion Air passenger flight from Jakarta to Sumatra crashes: Indonesia

"We cannot give any comment at this moment, said Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group.

Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Monday that a Lion Air passenger flight from Jakarta, the capital, to the city of Pangkal Pinang off the island of Sumatra, had crashed into the sea.

"It has been confirmed that it has crashed," Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the agency, said by text message when asked about the fate of the Lion Air plane.

The plane lost contact 13 minutes after takeoff, according to the official. The jet was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, according to air tracking service Flightradar 24.

It was not immediately clear how many people were on board.

"We cannot give any comment at this moment, said Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group. "We are trying to collect all the information and data."