Indonesian search and rescue teams made progress on Sunday by recovering debris from a missing aircraft that is suspected to have crashed the day before with 11 individuals onboard while approaching a mountainous area on Sulawesi island amid cloudy conditions.
The turboprop ATR 42-500 was en route from Yogyakarta, situated on Indonesia’s primary Java island, to Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province. The aircraft disappeared from radar on Saturday shortly after receiving instructions from air traffic control to adjust its approach alignment.
The plane, operated by Indonesia Air Transport, was last seen at 01:17 p.m. in the mountainous Leang-Leang region of Maros, South Sulawesi province. It carried eight crew members and three passengers from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries who were participating in an airborne maritime surveillance mission.
On Sunday morning, a rescue team aboard an air force helicopter spotted what appeared to be a small plane window in a forested area on Mount Bulusaraung’s slope, as mentioned by Muhammad Arif Anwar, the head of Makassar’s Search and Rescue Office. Subsequently, ground rescuers identified larger debris resembling the main fuselage and tail scattered on a steep northern slope.
“The identification of the main aircraft components has significantly reduced the search area, aiding in focusing the search efforts on locating potential survivors,” stated Anwar. He emphasized that the joint search and rescue teams are now concentrating on finding any survivors.
Despite encountering challenging weather conditions such as strong winds, dense fog, and difficult terrain, ground and air rescuers persisted in advancing towards the wreckage location on Sunday, according to Maj.-Gen. Bangun Nawoko, the Hasanuddin military commander in South Sulawesi.
Images and videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday depicted rescuers navigating a steep, fog-covered mountain ridge to access the scattered wreckage. Indonesia heavily relies on air travel and ferry services to connect its vast archipelago of over 17,000 islands. The nation has witnessed a series of transportation mishaps in recent years, including plane accidents, bus incidents, and ferry disasters.