A Lion Air Boeing 737 passenger plane with 188 people on board has crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital Jakarta, media reports said.

Flight JT-610, on a scheduled flight to Pangkal Pinang, the main city in the Bangka Belitung Islands, lost contact with ground control a few minutes after take-off, reported BBC.

The plane took off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Greater Jakarta at 6.21 am local time, and had been due to land at around 7:30 am in Pangkal Pinan, said CNN.

The aircraft, reported to be a Boeing 737 MAX 8, had been carrying 178 adults, one infant and two babies, as well as two pilots and five cabin crew, the report said, citing officials speaking at a news conference.

According to Flight tracking website Flightradar24, the aircraft had only been delivered to low-cost carrier Lion Air in August.

Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (SAR) has deployed boats, helicopter and 130 rescuers, including teams from three cities including Jakarta, Bandung and Lampung to the vicinity of the crash site in the Java Sea, 34 nautical miles off the coast near Jakarta, reported CNN.