Jakarta: Rescue teams scrambled to find a missing Boeing 737 passenger plane with more than 100 people onboard that sent out a distress signal while flying in bad weather over Indonesia, the transport minister said yesterday. (Jan 1, 2007).
 

The Adam Air flight had probably crashed, military airport official Eddy Suyanto told The Associated Press, citing emergency transmissions picked up by nearby airplanes.

 Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa, citing radio communications, said the aircraft may have gone down near Mamuju in South Sulawesi province, 750 kilometers southwest of its intended destination.

Rescue crews were on their way to search for survivors,  he told Indonesia's El-Shinta radio.

 "Let's hope the plane had an emergency landing," he said.

 But Ichasan Tatang, the national aviation chief, said there was no information of an emergency landing.

"Flight KI-574 left Surabaya in East Java at 1 p.m. on a two-hour flight to Manado on the northern tip of Sulawesi island," Tatang said.

Air traffic controllers lost contact when it was at 10,700 meters, and it was still missing more than eight hours after the scheduled arrival time.

Adam Air's chief executive, Gunawan Suherman, confirmed to the AP that controllers had lost contact with the aircraft hours earlier.

The plane was carrying six crew and 96 passengers,  including 11 children, El-Shinta radio reported.