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Personnel deployed to search for missing cargo plane in Papua
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Missing – A rescue team (not the people shown) is searching a location believed to be the crash site of a DHC-4 Caribou aircraft (pictured), which lost contact on Oct. 31. (Courtesy of Herry Usulu/File)
A
team comprising 18 personnel from the Mimika chapter of the Search and Rescue Agency (SAR), the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police (Polri) and the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) are searching the location believed to be where a DHC-4 Caribou plane crashed on Monday.
The cargo aircraft belonging to the Puncak administration was reported to have lost contact at 7:57 a.m. local time on Monday on its way from Moses Kilangin Timika Airport in Mimika, Papua, to Ilaga Airport in Puncak regency.
Gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia dispatched a helicopter to help in the search.
“They are trying to locate the point where the plane lost contact using one helicopter provided by Freeport Indonesia,” SAR Mimika spokesperson Muhammad told The Jakarta Post.
He said the exact location of the Caribou aircraft was still unknown but signals from its emergency locator transmitter (ELT) had given its coordinates, which were around 64 kilometers from Moses Kilangin Timika Airport.
“No one has seen the body of the aircraft but we have found its coordinates. So we will focus our search on those points,” said Muhammad. A SAR post was established at the airport to support the search operation, he added.
Ilaga Puncak Airport head Dani Joko said the weather was clear when the Caribou aircraft lost contact. “This is the second time an aircraft lost contact when it was about to land at Ilaga Airport,” Dani told the Post.
The aircraft carried water-channel construction materials and a cement mixer, weighing 3,130 kilograms in total. The plane was piloted by Farhat Limi, with three crew members, flight officer R. Fendi, mechanic Steven and flight operations officer Andi Baringin. (ebf)
