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ransportation Minister Jusman Syafii Jamal confirmed Tuesday that engine failure had caused a Sriwijaya Air plane to make an emergency landing earlier this week.

"One of the engines on the plane died, causing the flight failure. It was not caused by bad weather," Jusman said on the sidelines of a workshop on climate information services in Jakarta.

On Monday, the Jakarta-bound plane owned by low-cost carrier Sriwijaya was forced to land at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, shortly after taking off from Tanjung Pinang Airport on nearby Bintan Island.

None of the 122 passengers and crew were harmed in the incident.

One of the passengers, Dian Nusa, said she heard a big bang coming from the plane's left engine. Hang Nadim aviation safety head Elfi Amir said the plane "experienced trouble" on that side.

Jusman said the Transportation Ministry had advised the airline to replace its aging aircraft to prevent such incidents from recurring.

"We've suggested they replace that *Boeing 737* 200 type with a newer one, because it wastes fuel."

Boeing 737 planes feature prominently in the litany of Indonesian aircraft accidents. One of the deadliest cases was that of a Boeing 737-400 belonging to the now defunct Adam Air that went missing on its way to Manado, Sulawesi, from Surabaya, East Java, on Jan. 1, 2007.

Later that year, a Boeing 737 belonging to flag carrier Garuda Indonesia crash-landed in Yogyakarta, killing 21 passengers.

Jusman said the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) would investigate the Sriwijaya case, adding his ministry would take necessary action against the airline should the committee find it was at fault.

He added his ministry would supervise more closely airlines operating old aircraft.

Last month, a Boeing MD-90 aircraft belonging to low-cost airline Lion Air skidded off the runway while trying to make an emergency landing at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta during heavy rain.

"The Lion Air emergency landing is an example of a weather-related accident," Jusman said.

The government recently upgraded the role of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) to encompass climate issues as one of its main concerns.