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Families waiting with no sign yet of missing plane
A Merpati Airlines Twin Otter aircraft carrying 13 passengers and three crew members that went missing in a mountainous region of Papua on Aug
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Merpati Airlines Twin Otter aircraft carrying 13 passengers and three crew members that went missing in a mountainous region of Papua on Aug. 2 had not been located as of Monday afternoon, following an aerial search using five planes that day.
"No signs of the plane had been found until the search was stopped at 3:30 p.m. local time *Monday*," Jayapura Search and Rescue head Col. (Air Force) Suwandi Miharja told reporters at Jayapura airbase on Monday.
"The five planes involved in the search today did not find any signs of the plane," Suwandi said.
The search mission fleet comprised an Indonesian Air Force Cassa, a Merpati Airlines Twin Otter, a PC6 owned by AMA, a Hellio Coriver operated by Yajasi and a Caravan owned by MAF.
The planes scoured a 100-by-20-nautical-mile area between Sentani Airport and Oksibil Airports, in Pegunungan Bintang regency.
Yajasi pilot Sydney Jones told reporters he had flown for around three hours within the area where the ill-fated plane had allegedly gone missing.
"The weather was fine but I didn't see anything," he told reporters.
The search will continue on Tuesday, again involving five planes but with the Air Force Cassa being replaced with an additional Merpati Twin Otter from Merauke, Suwandi said.
"We will commence the search again tomorrow at 7 a.m., scouring areas along the route the missing aircraft *is believed to have taken* between Jayapura and Oksibil," he said.
Relatives of passengers of the missing plane had waited for news of their loved ones at Sentani Airport until the late afternoon on Monday.
Some of the passengers were not included in the manifest because they had used tickets under other people's names.
Priskila Kalakmabin said her husband, Edmar Kalak Mabin, used a ticket under the name of Edy. He had bought the ticket from a middleman for Rp 1.6 million (about US$160), despite the normal price being Rp 150,000.
Based on information from the public at Oksibil Military Command, six passengers on the flight had been traveling on tickets under other people's names. These included Aidah Bidahana, Melky Yor, Demianus Kaladana, Bernadus Lefki, Simayon and Kris Takege.
