Five members of a joint team comprising the Mimika Search and Rescue (SAR) team and PT Freeport Indonesia's Emergency Response Rescue were deployed Sunday to the Mimika Air plane crash site to recover the bodies of the 10 victims.
They were flown in on board an Airfast Indonesia helicopter to the slope of Mount Gergaji, Ilaga, Puncak Jaya, Papua, where the plane crashed in bad weather Friday.
"I dropped off the five members of the team this morning to coordinate the evacuation effort," said SAR team chairman and Timika Air Base commander Lt. Col. Easter Hariyanto.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post at Moses Kilangin Airport in Timika on Sunday, Hariyanto said the five members of the team had been sent to recover the bodies of the 10 victims of Friday's crash and to prepare them for evacuation Monday.
He said the team was flown to the crash site at about 9 a.m. local time.
"I went to the crash site and observed it from the helicopter while it was flying low above the site," he said.
He added the evacuation could not take place on Sunday due to the bad weather on the slopes of the mountain, with the rest of the SAR team having been sent back to Timika and Ilaga. He confirmed all 10 passengers, including the two aircrew, on board the Mimika Air plane were killed in the accident.
Among the passengers of the ill-fated aircraft were the secretary of the Puncak Jaya polling body Martin Jitmau, chairman of the local elections supervisory committee Herman Senanfi and church minister Martina Kiwak.
The plane, belonging to the Mimika regency administration, was also carrying ballots and results of the recent legislative polls in Illaga to Mulia, a town near Puncak Jaya.
"According to our helicopter observation from above the site, the plane is lying upside down after crashing into the slope of the mountain," Hariyanto said.
He added the plane had not exploded, but had sustained heavy damage to the front section and the wings.
"There is also a residential area about 200 meters away from the crash site, where residents had expressed readiness to help evacuate the victims from the slope of the mountain by foot."
He added all the victims, except the pilot and co-pilot, would be evacuated to Ilaga, where police officers would identify the bodies before they were sent to their respective families.
The bodies of pilot Ni Linn Aung from Myanmar and co-pilot Makmur Susanto will be evacuated to Timika before being sent to Jakarta.
Mimika Air operator John Rettob, who is also head of the regency's transportation agency, said his office would coordinate with the family of the pilot before sending his body back to Myanmar.
"Officers from the Papua Police's disaster victim identification team will also help identify the victims before they are sent to their families," he said.
Also at Moses Kilangin Airport, families of the crash victims scuffled with evacuation officers after they were prevented from going to Ilaga to see their loved ones killed in Friday's accident.
