No Malaysian citizen was on board, according to the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta.

Indonesian transport minister Budi Karya Sumadi in a media broadcast tonight said the aircraft was believed to have plunged into the sea around Pulau Laki and Pulau Lancang, in the waters of Kepulauan Seribu. The area is part of the Jakarta capital city administrative area.

The Boeing 737 aircraft carrying 62 passengers and crew, was reported to have lost contact with the control tower after taking off from Soekarno Hatta Airport, Jakarta, bound for Pontianak, in Borneo.

The last contact of the aircraft with the control tower was at 2.40pm East Indonesia time.

Indonesia’s search and rescue agency Basarnas said the search focus now was to detect the coordinates of the jetliner’s crash. “We hope to find the location point of the plane crash tonight before search and rescue efforts resume tomorrow morning,” said Bambang Suryo Aji, an official of Basarnas.