Rough terrain impedes Indonesian plane crash search

JAKARTA: Treacherous terrain in Indonesia’s Papua province yesterday hampered rescuers’ efforts to reach a passenger plane that crashed with 54 on board, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the sprawling South-east Asian archipelago.

Rescuers had yet to detect the aircraft’s black boxes, and news of survivors depends on a ground team now trekking slowly towards the mountainous area, the rescue official overseeing the search said.

“If it crashed into a mountain, there has never been a case of survivors. But who knows, let’s wait,” said Major-General Heronimus Guru, operations director at Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.

Rescue teams arriving at the site would have to build a helipad to fly in help, Guru told a news conference in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, adding that 266 people were involved in the operation, while 11 aircraft scoured the thickly forested area. Search operations were due to resume at first light today depending on the weather.

Guru displayed grainy photographs of what is believed to be the site of Sunday’s crash of the Trigana Air Service ATR 42-300 plane in the heavily forested Bintang Mountains district.

Officials of Trigana, placed on the US’s list of banned carriers since 2007 over safety or regulatory concerns, were not immediately available to respond to questions.

There were 44 adult passengers, five children and infants and five crew on the short-haul flight from Sentani Airport in Jayapura, the capital of the province of Papua, south to Oksibil.

All on board were Indonesian nationals, officials said.

Earlier reports said the aircraft was carrying about $470 000 (R6 million) in cash, destined for remote villages, as part of an official assistance programme.

Poor infrastructure in Indonesia’s easternmost province means that assistance money is often flown in by air, said post office spokesman Abu Sofjan.

There was no suggestion that the large sum of money carried on the plane was linked to the crash.

Guru said the cause of the crash would have to await an official investigation by a national transport safety panel.

Erratic weather could have played a role in the crash, another official said.

“It’s the weather there, it changes all the time. In the morning it can be clear and hot, and then suddenly it rains,” said a communications operator with the rescue agency in Jayapura. – Reuters