Indonesian rescuers find debris from missing plane

Rescuers have found the wreckage of a small plane that went missing in eastern Indonesia on Sunday, but they have not yet located the 10 passengers on board, officials said.

The Indonesian Air Transport turboprop plane lost contact with the air traffic controller while en route from Yogyakarta to the city of Makassar on Sulawesi Island on Saturday afternoon.

Muhammad Arif Anwar, head of the Makassar search and rescue agency, told a news conference that the joint search and rescue team found what were believed to be the “fuselage, tail section and windows” among the wreckage.

Arif said a rescue team was also sent by air to search for missing passengers.

“Our current priority is to locate the victims and we hope there are still some people we can evacuate safely,” Arif said. he added.

Arif said that the plane crashed on Bulusaraung Mountain in Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park, on the border of Makassar city.

More than 1,000 people, including air force members, police and volunteers, participated in the searches on land and in the air.

Local military chief Bangun Nawoko told reporters that rescue efforts were hampered by difficult terrain and fog.

Along with seven crew members, there were also three government employees from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries on board.

Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said that they took on the task of monitoring the resources in the region from the air.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago in Southeast Asia, relies heavily on air transportation to connect its thousands of islands. The country has a poor record on aviation safety due to a number of fatal accidents in recent years.

In September, a helicopter carrying six passengers and two crew crashed shortly after takeoff from South Kalimantan province, killing everyone on board.

Less than two weeks after the crash in September, four people were killed when their helicopter crashed in the remote Papuan region of Ilaga.

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