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12 officials found dead on Papua plane crash
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 11/20/2006 12:15 PM
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Twelve people on board an aircraft reported missing in Papua were confirmed Sunday to have died when the plane crashed into a cliff.
An Air Force search and rescue team had arrived at the crash site at Gergaji cliff in Puncak Jaya regency on Sunday morning. There they found the wreckage of the Trigana Air Service Twin Otter airplane, but no survivors.
""The aircraft was completed wrecked and all the passengers and crew were dead,"" said Bustomi, Trigana's manager in Papua, speaking from Mulia, the regency's capital.
Poor weather, however, has prevented the victims' bodies from being recovered.
""The evacuation team was flown to the site after three of its other members reached it. But poor weather, with the clouds completely covering the cliff, made it hard for the helicopter to find the site with the team,"" Bustomi said, adding that the bodies had been collected and another attempt at recovering them would be made Monday.
""All the victims will be evacuated to the regency's capital city, Mulia,"" Bustomi said.
The aircraft, which left Mulia on a 30-minute trip to nearby Ilaga district, went missing on Friday. The plane had been chartered by the regency administration to take officials to talk to residents in several districts before drafting a mid-term development plan.
Acting Puncak Jaya Regent Henock Ibo told the Post that the officials' remains would be buried in their own hometowns and the administration would take care of the burials.
Among the passengers were regional development planning and supervision head Wirda Faubun, public works head Ismail Warkerkwa and Ilaga district head Yosia Magai.
Remains of the aircraft's three crew members, pilot Bambang Jatmiko, co-pilot Harya Priambodo and technician Daryanto, will be flown to Jakarta.
Wirda's home has been crowded with relatives since the plane vanished.
""We'll continue praying, asking for God's help. But whatever his fate, the family will take it as God's will,"" said Wirda's brother Usman Fakaubun, a former chairman of Papua's Indonesian Journalists Association.
Plane crashes are common in Papua, which along with neighboring West Irian Jaya province relies heavily on air transportation. Puncak Jaya is one of many Papuan regencies which can only be reached by air from Jayapura, Timika, Nabire and Wamena.
Earlier this year, a light Cessna 185 aircraft operated by Associated Mission Aviation crashed in a remote jungle in Papua, killing two people on board.
In April last year, 17 people died when a GT Air Twin Otter aircraft crashed due to bad weather. In February 2006, 15 people died when a Casa 212 police aircraft nose-dived into an estuary meters away from the runway at Papua's Sarmi Airport.
