Slideshow ( 2 images ) JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian rescuers retrieved body parts on Monday after a Lion Air plane crashed into the sea shortly after take-off from the capital, Jakarta, a spokesman said. The pilot of the plane, which was carrying 189 people, had requested to return to base before it lost contact 13 minutes into the flight. Rescue workers are trying to find the main body of the plane after finding debris and aircraft parts floating on the surface of the Java Sea.<doc-sep>(CNN) — After retrieving six bodies from the sea where an Indonesian passenger plane crashed near Jakarta Monday, search and rescue officials say they fear there will be no survivors. Lion Air flight JT 610 was carrying 189 people, including three children, when it disappeared from radar just 13 minutes after takeoff, according to Basarnas, Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency. The plane, a new Boeing 737 MAX 8, was carrying 181 passengers, as well as six cabin crew members and two pilots. It was bound for Pangkal Pinang on the Indonesian island of Bangka. “My prediction is that no one survived because we only managed to retrieve body parts. It has been a few hours since the crash so it is possible all 189 people were killed,” Bambang Suryo Aji, director of operations for Basarnas, said in a news conference. As many as 21 body bags have been transported to a hospital in east Jakarta for identification as rescue workers continue to search the sea. The bags contained human remains, debris from the airplane and personal items belonging to the victims, according Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue agency. Six bodies were recovered earlier in the day and taken to the same hospital. Aji said that rescue workers had found debris appearing to be the plane’s tail. The main wreckage had still not been located. Search and rescue teams were working against high waves and strong currents, in an area spanning 150 nautical miles, added Aji. Underwater robots were being used in the search effort. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Tatan Syuflana/AP A relative of one of the crash victims tosses flower petals from an Indonesian Navy ship on Tuesday, November 6. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images Victims' families and colleagues react on a Navy ship as they're ferried to the crash site on November 6. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: BEAWIHARTA/REUTERS An Indonesian official examines a turbine engine from the plane on Sunday, November 4. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Ed Wray/Getty Images People in Jakarta grieve over the coffin of a relative on November 4. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images Indonesian Navy divers recover a flight data recorder on Thursday, November 1. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images Families of the victims look through personal items that were recovered from the wreckage. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images A police officer arranges shoes recovered during search operations. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Edgar Su/Reuters A Navy ship arrives at a search area in the waters of Karawang. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Fauzy Chaniago/AP A relative of a passenger cries at a Jakarta hospital on Tuesday, October 30. Family members have been providing authorities with DNA samples to help identify victims of the crash. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters Officials transport a body bag in Jakarta. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Edgar Su/Reuters Indonesian President Joko Widodo inspects debris. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Fauzy Chaniago/AP Victims' relatives embrace at a police hospital in Jakarta. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Antara Foto/Reuters Soldiers drag ashore an inflatable raft containing debris from the plane. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Achmad Ibrahim/AP A wallet is seen in the water where the plane went down. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters A relative of a passenger cries at a hospital in Jakarta. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images President Widodo (front row, second from right) tours the operations center in Jakarta where debris is laid out. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Edgar Su/Reuters Police work to identify personal belongings that are believed to be from the plane's wreckage. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Edgar Su/Reuters A police officer studies a map in the search-and-rescue command center. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Beawiharta/Reuters A diver with the Indonesian Navy enters the water off the north coast of Karawang. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Jepayona Delita/Barcroft Media/Getty Images Rescue workers carry a body that was recovered from the waters near Jakarta on October 29. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Hadi Sutrisno/AP A woman in Pangkal Pinang prays as she and others wait for news on October 29. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Beawiharta/Reuters People gather on the beach as a rescue team prepares to leave the coast of Karawang. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters Wreckage from the plane lies at a port in Jakarta. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Rony Zakaria/Bloomberg/Getty Images Bagus Sunjoyo, head of airport authority for Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, speaks to members of the media during a news conference. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Beawiharta/Reuters People watch a rescue team as a helicopter flies overhead. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Rony Zakaria/Bloomberg/Getty Images People look at the passenger manifest for Lion Air Flight JT 610. Photos: In photos: Lion Air plane crashes off Indonesia PHOTO: Ivan Damanik/AFP/Getty Images Merdiana Harahap is consoled in Medan, Indonesia. Her husband was on the plane. Prev Next Plane had reported problems the night before The flight made a request to air traffic control to return to the airport about 12 miles out from takeoff, but did not indicate there was any emergency, Yohanes Sirait, spokesman for AirNav Indonesia, the agency that oversees air traffic navigation, told CNN.<doc-sep>Ambulances sit lined up to transfer recovered victims of the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT 610 as debris collected at sea sits out to dry, at the Jakarta International Container Terminal in Jakarta. BAY ISMOYO / AFP Indonesian investigators searching for the flight recorders of crashed Lion Air flight 610 have heard transponder "pings" that could lead them to the devices, and answer questions as to why the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 went down, killing all 189 people on board. Haryo Satmiko, deputy director of the National Transport Safety Committee, told CNN in a text message that, while the pings had been detected, investigators needed more "technical efforts" to find the exact location of the so-called black boxes. Small pieces of debris and remains of some people on board the plane have been retrieved from the water off Jakarta, but the main body of the plane has been missing since it disappeared from radar on Monday around 6:30 a.m. local time. Read more about the latest developments in the search for the crashed airliner here.<doc-sep>✕ Close Lion Air crash: 189 feared dead after Indonesia plane plunges into sea An Indonesian plane carrying 189 people crashed into the sea and sank minutes after taking off from the capital, Jakarta. The Lion Air flight, JT610, lost contact with ground officials 13 minutes after takeoff, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said. The agency posted photos online showing a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage which had been collected by search and rescue vessels. Around 300 people, including soldiers, police and local fishermen were involved in the search – which has so far recovered body parts, ID cards, personal belongings and aircraft debris. Lion Air said the brand-new Boeing 737, which was on a 1-hour-and-10-minute flight to Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra, was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and eight crew members. Follow the latest updates Please allow a moment for the live blog to load<doc-sep>
Send this page to someone via email An Indonesian search and rescue agency official says he’s not expecting any survivors from the Lion Air plane that crashed into seas off Jakarta with 189 people aboard on Monday. The operations director at the agency, Bambang Suryo Aji, said the search effort is focusing on finding bodies. He said six body bags have been used so far for human remains recovered. Aji said the location of the plane hull hasn’t been identified yet. Waters, where it sank, are up to 30 metres deep. The search is currently planned to last seven days and could be extended. WATCH: Indonesian president meets plane crash families as search carries into night 2:13 Indonesian president meets plane crash families as search carries into night Indonesian president meets plane crash families as search carries into night – Oct 29, 2018 At the same news conference, a Lion Air official said there were two foreigners on board the plane: its pilot, originally from New Delhi, and an Italian citizen. Story continues below advertisement View image in full screen People watch rescue team members prepare the boat heading to the Lion Air, flight JT610, sea crash site off the coast of Karawang regency, West Java province, Indonesia, October 29, 2018. REUTERS/Beawiharta. REUTERS/Beawiharta Plane had technical problems Lion Air’s president says the plane that crashed into the sea had a technical problem on its last flight that was resolved. Airline President Edward Sirait said Monday the technical problem on Boeing 737 Max 8 plane was resolved in accordance with the manufacturer’s procedures. He wasn’t more specific but said the problem on the earlier flight would be part of the investigation of Monday’s crash. View image in full screen Relatives of passengers of Lion Air, flight JT610, that crashed into the sea cry at Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang, Belitung island, Indonesia, October 29, 2018. Antara Foto/Hadi Sutrisno via REUTER WATCH: Indonesian plane crashes, sinks with 189 on board 1:36 Indonesian plane crashes, sinks with 189 on board Indonesian plane crashes, sinks with 189 on board – Oct 29, 2018 Separately, Indonesia’s Directorate-General of Air Transportation said the flight from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang requested to return to Jakarta shortly after takeoff from the capital’s airport. The plane crashed into the sea about 13 minutes after takeoff. Story continues below advertisement In a statement about the tragedy, the air transportation agency’s spokesman Sindu Rahayu said, “The plane had requested a return to base before disappearing from the radar.” It gave no other details about the request.