Passenger plane lost contact on Indonesia flight

A commercial Adam Air passenger plane lost contact with flight controllers today as it flew between Indonesia's Java and Sulawesi islands, the company's chief executive said.

Air traffic operators were unable to contact Adam Air flight KI-574, Gunawan Suherman said.

"We can't say what happened yet, we are still coordinating," Suherman said.

The missing plane is a Boeing 737-400, carrying six crew and 96 passengers, including 11 children, Indonesia's El-Shinta radio reported.

Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa confirmed the plane had lost contact, but could provide no more details.

The plane left Surabaya in East Java at 1pm local time (6am Irish time) on a two-hour flight to Manado on the northern tip of Sulawesi island, the Transport Ministry said.

Its last contact with flight controllers was at 2.07pm local time (7.07am Irish time) near southern Sulawesi.

Officials said the plane was only carrying enough fuel for a four-hour flight.

Adam Air, a privately owned low-cost airline, began operations in Indonesia several years ago and most of its flights are domestic.

Last year, one of its jetliners lost all communication and navigation systems for four hours during a flight between Jakarta and Makassar on Sulawesi Island, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.