Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja dies in Indonesia’s Lion Air Plane crash

New Delhi: Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja died on Monday when an Indonesian plane carrying about 188 passengers and crew crashed in the Java Sea. There are no signs of any survivors yet.

“Our deepest condolences on the tragic loss of lives in the Lion Air Plane crash, off the coast of Jakarta today. Most unfortunate that Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja who was flying JT610 also lost his life,” Indian embassy in Indonesia confirmed in a post on its twitter account. The 31-year old pilot is a resident of Jakarta and is originally from New Delhi. The aircraft lost contact with the ground officials 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta Soekarno Hatta International Airport.

The aircraft was commanded by Captain Suneja and co-pilot Harvino with six cabin crew members. Suneja had 6,000 flight hours and the co-pilot more than 5,000 flight hours, the airline said in a statement.

According to his Linkedin profile, he had been working at Lion Air since March 2011 and had his schooling from Ahlcon Public School in Delhi. Lion Air said in its website that it is the largest private carrier in Indonesia.

PTI contributed to this story.