An Indonesian Lion Air plane carrying 188 passengers and crew crashed into the sea on Monday, moments after it had asked to be allowed to return to Jakarta.

Bhavye Suneja, a resident of Delhi's Mayur Vihar was reportedly the captain of the Indonesian carrier that vanished from radar just 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta.

Suneja had joined the Lion Air in March 2011 where he flies the Boeing 737, reported Times of India.

The VP of a leading airline in India that operates the Boeing 737 told the daily that Suneja was considering returning to India.

"We spoke this July. He is a very sweet sounding person. Being an experienced pilot of the 13737 with an incident, accident-free record, we were keen to have him with us because of his good credentials. His only request was that he wanted a Delhi posting as he is from the city," said the senior official. 

Suneja got his pilot license from Bel Air International in 2009.

According to his Linkedin profile, before joining Lion Air, he was associated with Emirates as a trainee pilot.

Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Yusuf Latif said authorities were still searching for the remains of the plane, which lost contact with air traffic control around 6.30 am (2330 GMT). 

The plane was en route to Pangkal Pinang on the island of Bangka. Video footage apparently filmed at the scene of the crash showed a slick of fuel on the surface of the water.

Items such as handphones and life vests were found in waters about 30 metres to 35 metres (98 to 115 ft) deep near where the plane, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, lost contact.

In 2014, an AirAsia plane crashed with the loss of 162 lives.

Lion Air, a low-cost airline, has been involved in a number of incidents. Last year one of its Boeing jets collided with a Wings Air plane as it landed at Kualanamu airport on the island of Sumatra, although no one was injured.

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