A regional passenger aircraft carrying 11 people lost contact with ground control on Saturday while approaching a mountainous region between Indonesia’s main island of Java and Sulawesi island, officials said.
The turboprop ATR 42-500 operated by Indonesia Air Transport was on the way from Yogyakarta to the capital city of South Sulawesi when it vanished from radar, said Endah Purnama Sari, a spokesperson for the Transportation Ministry. A search and rescue operation is underway.
The plane was last tracked at 0117 pm (0517 GMT) in the Leang-Leang area of Maros, a mountainous district of South Sulawesi province.
Hopes for locating the wreckage grew after hikers on Mount Bulusaraung reported finding scattered debris, a logo consistent with Indonesia Air Transport markings, and small fires still burning at the scene.
Rescue teams focused their search around the mountains
“The sightings were reported to authorities and are being verified by rescue teams attempting to reach the area,” said Major General Bangun Nawoko, the South Sulawesi’s Hasanuddin military commander.
Sari said the plane disappeared shortly after being instructed by air traffic control to correct its approach alignment. “After the last ATC instructions, radio contact was lost, and controllers declared the emergency distress phase.”
She said rescue teams focused their search around the mountains where the aircraft, with eight crew members and three passengers from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry aboard, was believed to have deviated from its approach to Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport.
Weather conditions at the time indicated clouds and 8-kilometre (nearly 5-mile) visibility, Sari said.
Steep terrain at Bulusaraung National Park, which links the Maros and Pangkep districts, has complicated the search efforts, Nawoko said.
