On the flight before it crashed, the Lion Air plane was climbing and falling so wildly that people on board threw up

Reuters

Another plane in the Lion Air fleet.

• Passengers who flew on the last Lion Air flight before it crashed told Indonesian media it was "like a rollercoaster."
• The journey made passengers "vomit" and "panic."
• Lion Air acknowledged a fault with the plane, but say they believe they fixed it before flight JT 610, which crashed into the sea with 189 on board.
• Here's what we know about the passengers, whom rescuers believe have all died.

On its last complete flight before it crashed on Monday, Lion Air plane which fell into the sea was climbing and dropping so wildly that people on board were in open panic, and some vomited.

The Boeing 373 Max 8 operated by Lion Air went down on Monday morning 13 minutes after sending a "Return to Base" request with 189 people onboard. So far rescuers have found no survivors, and say everyone is likely dead.

A passenger on the plane one flight before it crashed, Alon Soetanto, told Indonesian TV channel TVOne that the Boeing 737 dropped suddenly several times in the first few minutes of Sunday's flight.

It felt like a "rollercoaster" which made passengers "panic and vomit," the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing TVOne.

"About three to eight minutes after it took off, I felt like the plane was losing power and unable to rise," Soetanto said.

Claims that the Lion Air plane was flying erratically are corroborated by data collected by flight tracking website Flight Radar, AP said. The plane was supposed be steadily gaining altitude on the flight, a short hop from Bali to Jakarta, but can be seen rising and falling several times.

AP reported that Sunday's flight data is similar to preliminary data from Monday's flight, which took a much more desperate turn when it crashed.

Ed Wray/Getty Images

Rescuers search through debris from the crash.

Edward Sirait, President of Lion Air, told AP they were aware of the problems on the flight on Sunday, but it was resolved "in accordance with the procedures released by the plane manufacturer."

After the Lion Air flight took off on Monday, pilot Bhavye Suneja asked to turn back, seemingly because he knew something was wrong with the plane. 13 minutes later it stopped communicating with Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, and crashed into the sea.

Rescue crews are still searching the crash-site looking for evidence, including the black box which would contain large amounts of data about the final moments on board the plane.