Lion Air Flight 610 (JT610/LNI610)[a] was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, to Depati Amir Airport, Pangkal Pinang, in Indonesia. On 29 October 2018, the Boeing 737 MAX operating the route, carrying 181 passengers and 8 crew members, crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff killing all 189 occupants on board. It was the first major accident and hull loss of a 737 MAX, a then recently-introduced aircraft. It is the deadliest accident involving the Boeing 737 family. One diver also died during recovery operations.
The aircraft took off from Jakarta on 29 October 2018 at 6:20 am local time (28 October 2018, 11:20 pm UTC) and was scheduled to arrive at Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang at 7:20 am.[16] It took off in a westward direction before circling around to a northeast heading, which it held until crashing offshore northeast of Jakarta in waters estimated to be as much as 35 m (115 ft) deep.[17][18] The flight crew had requested clearance to return to the Jakarta airport 19 nmi (35 km; 22 mi) into the flight.[19][20] The accident site was located 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) off the coast of the island of Java.[21] Communication between air traffic control (ATC) and Flight 610 was suddenly lost at 6:33 am.[22] ATC informed the National Search and Rescue Agency, which deployed three ships and a helicopter to the area.[23] At 7:30 am, the agency received reports that Flight 610 had crashed a few kilometres (miles) from an offshore oil platform.[24] Workers on the platform reportedly saw the aircraft crash with a steep nose-down angle.[25] Boats from the platform were immediately deployed and debris from the crashed aircraft was found shortly after.[26]
