Contact lost with plane carrying 102 in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Jan 1 (Reuters) Contact was lost today with an Adam Air passenger plane flying from Surabaya on Java island to Manado on Sulawesi island with 96 passengers and six crew on board, Indonesian officials said.

Tatang Ikhsan, director general at the transport ministry, said the plane was a Boeing 737-400 and the flight originated in Jakarta with a stop in Surabaya.

It left Surabaya at 1 pm (1130 IST) and was scheduled to land just over two hours later in Manado in North Sulawesi.

Contact was lost when the plane was at an altitude of 35,000 feet, about one hour before it was due to land, Ikhsan said.

Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa said the plane had been sighted above the Mamuju forest on Sulawesi.

''(It was) preliminary information from a plane flying above it.

It will be the first clue for SAR (Search and Rescue) to move to the area,'' he told Elshinta radio, adding that rescuers had been ordered to go to the area.

''Let's hope it made an emergency landing,'' he said.

Reuters LL DB2036