Indonesian rescue teams recovered a body this Sunday 18th, during searches the previous day when approaching a mountainous region on the island of Sulawesi.
The rescue team removed the body of a man from a ravine about 200 meters deep on the slope of Mount Bulusaraung, close to the wreckage of the aircraft. Removal of the body is underway, said Muhammad Arif Anwar, head of the Makassar Search and Rescue Office and coordinator of the mission.
Crews also found other debris from the aircraft, including parts of the fuselage and passenger seats, and visually identified what is believed to be the engine, Anwar said.
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The body has not yet been identified, but is believed to be from the ATR 42-500 turboprop that was en route from Yogyakarta, on Indonesia’s main island Java, to Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, when it disappeared from radar on Saturday, shortly after receiving instructions from air traffic control to correct its approach.
The plane, operated by Indonesia Air Transport, was last tracked at 1:17 pm local time on Saturday in the Leang-Leang region of Maros, a mountainous district in South Sulawesi province. It was carrying eight crew members and three passengers from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, who were on board as part of an aerial maritime surveillance mission.
On Sunday morning, a rescue team in an air force helicopter spotted what appeared to be a small plane window in a forested area on the slope of Mount Bulusaraung, Muhammad Arif Anwar said. Later, ground rescue teams recovered larger debris, consistent with the main fuselage and tail, scattered on a steep slope to the north, Anwar said in an interview.
“The discovery of key sections of the aircraft significantly narrows the search zone and provides a crucial clue to narrowing the search area,” Anwar said. “Our joint rescue teams are now focusing on searching for victims, especially those who may still be alive.”
Ground and air teams continued advancing toward the crash site on Sunday despite strong winds, intense fog and steep, rugged terrain that have hampered the search, said Maj. Gen. Bangun Nawoko, military commander of Hasanuddin in South Sulawesi. More than 100 people, with support from the Specialized Search and Rescue Units of the army’s elite forces, were mobilized in various sectors.
Crews have been facing heavy rain and dense fog, with visibility of only about five meters at the summit, Nawoko said. “This affected travel and even forced the cancellation of a planned vertical descent for safety reasons,” he said.
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Photos and videos released on Sunday by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed that rescuers were walking along a steep, narrow ridge, covered in dense fog, to reach the scattered wreckage.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport and ferries to connect its more than 17,000 islands. The Southeast Asian country has been marred by transport accidents in recent years, including plane and bus crashes and ferry sinkings.
