&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Rescues race to locate passengers after debris from missing Indonesian plane found")
Indonesian rescuers on Sunday (Jan 18) found debris from a passenger aircraft carrying 11 people that lost contact with ground control a day earlier. The small plane disappeared while approaching the mountainous region between Indonesia’s main island of Java and Sulawesi island, officials said. A search is still underway to locate its passengers.
The turboprop ATR 42-500 operated by Indonesia Air Transport was travelling from Yogyakarta to the capital city of South Sulawesi when it vanished from the radar. The plane was last spotted at 01:17 pm local time (0517 GMT) in the Leang-Leang area of Maros, a mountainous district of South Sulawesi province, a spokesperson for the Transportation Ministry said.
The joint search and rescue team said that they found what they believed to be the plane’s “fuselage, the tail section, and the windows” among the debris, said Muhammad Arif Anwar, head of Makassar search and rescue agency. He added that a rescue unit has also been deployed by air to search for the missing passengers.
Three government workers from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries were also among those on board the plane, along with seven crew members. Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said that the team was on a mission to conduct aerial monitoring of resources in the area.
“Our current priority is locating victims, and we hope there are still some we can evacuate in a safe condition,” Arif added.
He said that the plane crashed into Mount Bulusaraung in Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park, which borders the city of Makassar. The search on land and by air for the plane and its passengers involved over 1,000 people, including members of the air force, police and volunteers.
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Local military chief Bangun Nawoko said that rescue efforts were facing challenges due to harsh terrain and fog.
The Southeast Asian archipelago heavily relies on air transport to connect its thousands of islands. Indonesia has a poor aviation safety record, with several fatal crashes in recent years. Last year in September, a helicopter carrying six passengers and two crew members crashed soon after taking off from South Kalimantan province. All on board were killed in the crash. Less than two weeks later, another helicopter crashed in the remote Papua district of Ilaga, killing four people.
