Wreckage of missing turbo plane located
JAKARTA: The wreckage of an Indonesian Trigana Air plane with 54 people onboard was found in a remote part of the Papua region last night.
The plane was located in the Bintang highlands part of the Oksibil region and there were no reports of any survivors.
Local villagers told authorities that they saw a plane crash into a mountain.
The Trigana Air Service plane was flying from Papua’s provincial capital, Jayapura, to the Papua city of Oksibil when it lost contact with Oksibil’s airport, said Transportation Ministry spokesman Julius Barata.
There was no indication that the pilot had made a distress call, he said.
The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew members on the scheduled 42-minute journey, Mr Barata said.
Five children, including three infants, were among the passengers.
Local media reports said all the passengers are Indonesians. The airline did not immediately release a passenger manifest.
A plane was sent yesterday to look for the missing airliner, but the air search was suspended due to darkness and limited visibility, Susanto, the head of Papua’s search and rescue agency, said.
Oksibil, which is about 280km south of Jayapura, was experiencing heavy rain, strong winds and fog when the plane lost contact with the airport minutes before it was scheduled to land, said Susanto.
Indonesia has had its share of airline woes in recent years. From 2007 to 2009, the European Union barred Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe because of safety concerns.
JAKARTA: Four foreign tourists were missing after leaving for a scuba diving trip in the waters off Indonesia’s island of Borneo, an official said yesterday.
The group of six, identified as five Italians and a Belgian, had headed out to Sangalaki island, a popular dive spot in East Kalimantan province, on Saturday, provincial search and rescue chief Hendra Sudirman said.
“Two Italians among them who went snorkelling were safe. But four others, comprising of three Italians and a Belgian, who went diving were reported missing Saturday evening,” he said.
“We have sent out rescue boats to look for them in the water as well as comb the beaches and surrounding areas but so far, we have found no trace of them,” he said.
“The currents are strong and waves are up to 2.5 metres. We hope they have drifted to the smaller islands and are safe,” he added.
Mr Sudirman said the authorities are still investigating the case and searching for the missing tourists would be a priority.
State news agency Antara reported that a local guide accompanying the divers has been found safe and is being treated at a hospital.
Indonesia is a popular scuba diving destination in Asia but numerous accidents have been reported in recent years.
Two of seven Japanese divers were killed in a diving trip off the resort island of Bali in February last year.