'No survivors are expected' after a passenger plane crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital. 

Lion Air flight JT610 plunged into the sea after losing contact with ground officials 13 minutes after take-off. 

An official told reporters: "I predict there are no survivors, based on body parts found so far."

The pilot of the plane had requested to return to the airport shortly before it plunged into the sea. 

Indonesia's president Joko Widodo has ordered the National Commission for Transport Safety to investigate the crash. 

A tug boat saw the jet fall into the sea shortly after it departed Jakarta at 6.20am (11.20pm Sunday, UK time).  

The waters where the jet went down are up to 100 feet deep. 

Agency head Muhammad Syaugi told a news conference that no distress signals had been received from the jet.

 

There were two foreign passengers among those onboard including the pilot originally from New Delhi and an Italian citizen.

Images posted by the country’s disaster agency online show a crushed smartphone, books, bags, headphones and parts of the aircraft’s fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels.

Lion Air crash in Indonesia

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Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the aircraft, on a 70 minute flight to Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra, was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and seven crew members.

At least 23 government officials were on board the plane.

Relatives have turned up to the National Search and Rescue Agency's headquarters in Jakarta desperate for news. 

One relative, Feni, said her soon to be married sister was on the flight. 

She said: "We are here to find any information about my younger sister, her fiance, her in-law to be and a friend of them. We don't have any information.

"No one provided us with any information that we need. We're confused. We hope that our family is still alive."

Data for Flight 610 on aircraft tracking website FlightAware ends just a few minutes following takeoff.

Indonesian TV showed dozens of people waiting anxiously outside the Pangkal Pinang airport and officials bringing out plastic chairs.

Lion Air is one of Indonesia's youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

According to the airlines, the plane had been in operation since August, with its pilot and co-pilot having accumulated 11,000 hours of flying time. 

Edward Sirait, the chief executive of Lion Air Group said: “We don’t dare to say what the facts are, or are not, yet. We are also confused about the why, since it was a new plane.”

He added that the aircraft had a technical problem on a flight from the resort island of Bali to Jakarta but it had been "resolved according to procedure."

The issue with the earlier would be part of the investigation of Monday's crash, he said. 

Australia's foreign affairs ministry says that Australian government officials and contractors "have been instructed not to fly on Lion Air or their subsidiary airlines" following the crash. 

The statement posted on the ministry's website said the decision will be reviewed when the findings of the crash investigation are clear. 

Boeing Co. said it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and was prepared to provide technical assistance to Indonesia's crash probe. 

In a statement, the Chicago-based manufacturer expressed its concern for the 189 people onboard and offered "heartfelt sympathies to their families and loved ones." 

In 2013, one Lion Air's Boeing 737-800 jets missed the runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 people on board.

The crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since an AirAsia flight plunged into the sea in December 2014, killing all 162 on board.

Additional reporting by  Associated Press.