Preliminary flight data shows that an Indonesian low-cost airliner dropped in altitude and increased in speed before crashing off the coast of Indonesia. Flight tracking service Flightradar24 shows the Lion Air jet was off the coast of Indonesia at an altitude of just over 36-hundred feet when it lost contact. The aircraft was en route from Jakarta to the city of Pangkal Pinang on Sumatra. A spokesman for an Indonesian rescue agency says the jet lost contact with air traffic control about 13 minutes into the flight. The Lion Air Boeing 737 can hold up to 210 passengers, but it's unknown how many passengers were on the plane at the time of the crash. Search and rescue operations are underway.
PHOTO: In this archive photo, a Lion Air commercial plane lands at the Mutiara Sis Al Jufri airport in Palu, Indonesia's Central Sulawesi on October 7, 2018. (Getty Images)