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A plane carrying 188 people crashed into the sea north of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, shortly after take-off on Monday morning.

Lion Air's flight JT-610 was heading to Pangkal Pinang, an island north of Indonesia's capital when it lost contact with air control about 6.33am local time (10.33am AEDT, 11.33pm BST) -  just 13 minutes after take-off.

Before the tragic accident, the plane's pilots had asked to return to the airport, Sindu Rahayu, head of Cooperation and Public Relations at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said. 

Traffic control allowed the return, but the aircraft vanished from the radar shortly after. Authorities are not sure why the plane crashed, as the weather was sunny, the aircraft was new and the pilots experienced.