Family members of passengers on a missing plane arrived at the airport today (January 9) to wait for news of their loved ones.

An estimated 62 people were on board the Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 which lost contact en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province, according to officials.

Footage showed family members at Supadio Pontianak International Airport where a crisis centre has been set up to collect information about the missing passengers.

According to Flight tracking website Flightradar24.com, the aircraft had fell more than than 3,000m in altitude in less than one minute

The family of passengers on a Sriwijaya Air flight with flight number SJ-182 on the Jakarta-Pontianak route visited Supadio Pontianak International Airport in West Borneo, Indonesia.

The families began to provide data to officers and wait for information at the crisis center which airport officials prepared.

PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero), the Pontianak Supadio International Airport Branch Office, has prepared a crisis center to collect data on Sriwijaya Air passengers who lost contact.

"We have prepared a crisis center at the multipurpose building Graha Chandra Dista Wiradi around the airport for the families of Sriwijaya aircraft passengers," General Manager of AirNav Indonesia Pontianak Branch Wasyudi Zufka told reporters, Saturday (9/1).

The Sriwijaya Air plane with the Jakarta-Pontianak route was declared lost contact. This news was revealed by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation, Adita Irawati.

In footage filmed Saturday afternoon, police and soldiers were also seen guarding the domestic arrivals gate.

The plane reportedly lost contact around Lancang Island, Thousand Islands. The plane took off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport heading to Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

Previously, the Ministry of Transportation confirmed that the Sriwijaya Air plane for the Jakarta-Pontianak route with flight number SJ-182 lost contact at 14:40 WIB.

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) tonight focused on finding the point where the plane crashed.

Basarnas dispatched officers to the waters of the Thousand Islands, Jakarta, where the alleged crash location of the Sriwijaya Air flight number SJ-182 was between Laki Island and Lancang Island.