National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) announced Saturday that they managed to reach the wreckage of the ill-fated Casa 212, which crashed in a forested area of Langkat, North Sumatra. The team found that all passengers died in the crash.
"No one survive. We discover all passengers are still in their seats," Basarnas chief Vice Marshall Dariyatmo told reporters in Medan, North Sumatra.
The plane carried 14 passengers and four crew.
Previously, a relative to one of the victims claimed she managed to contact her sister by phone on Thursday evening, keeping hopes alive that some of the victims might survive the crash. However, the rescue team had dismissed any chance of survival given the small size of the aircraft and the speed when it hit the ground.
The evacuation was stalled on Friday due to bad weather and heavy downpour.
Dariyatmo said 16 personnel of the rescue team rappelled from a helicopter to reach the downed aircraft. The method was chosen because the rescue team traveling on foot was having trouble accessing the crash site due to the dense foliage.
Dariyatmo said that the remains of the victims would be evacuated to Bahorok and later taken to Medan by air.
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