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PT Airfast Indonesia helicopter containing three people is feared to have crashed after radio contact was lost at 8:32 a.m. local time at Tsinga village in Timika, Papua, on Saturday.

“I got a report from the Search and Rescue Agency (SAR) at 9 a.m. this morning that it received a signal that indicated there was a plane crash,” Timika transportation sub-office head John Rettob told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

“The missing aircraft was immediately searched for, but as of this afternoon it has not been found yet,” he said.

The helicopter with three people onboard — New Zealand pilot Shri Krisnan, Andarian Lamba Sangka from Toraja in South Sulawesi, and Yan Timisela of Ambon, Maluku — was on its way to Wanagon, near the Grassberg area, to send logistics to employees conducting exploration activities there. Both Andarian and Yan were employees of PT Pangan Sari.

John said that the PK-ODA helicopter, owned by PT Airfast Indonesia which specializes in charter passenger and cargo services, initially flew from the Moses Kilangin airport, in Timika, to Tsinga village.

“The signal received by the SAR indicated an accident. Whether the helicopter is damaged or not has not been verified yet,” he said.

A search was conducted soon after the signal of a possible accident was received by the SAR. However, due to bad weather, the search was halted and would be resumed on Sunday.

“Two helicopters were deployed above Tsinga village, but could not land due to the unfavorable weather,” John said.

Data from the field received by the Post showed that the helicopter was used by a sub-contractor of copper-mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia.

 “A team from Freeport Indonesia took part in the search activities,” Freeport Indonesia’s spokesman Ramdani Sirait said in a text message.

Meanwhile, Zulfikar, head of the SAR office in Timika, told Antara news agency that the search was temporarily halted on Saturday afternoon due to bad weather and would be resumed on Monday using two other helicopters belonging to Airfast.

Zulfikar said that, as of Saturday afternoon, it was not clear yet whether the helicopter had crashed or had made an emergency landing.

He hoped the weather would be better on Sunday to enable the search and rescue teams to find the missing helicopter, operated by the Nusa Jaya exploration company, Antara reported.