Indonesia Plane Missing With 10 People On Board

It was carrying three crew and seven passengers, including three children, from Masamba in the same province.

A Twin Otter light plane, operated by Aviastar, has reportedly lost contact during a flight in South Sulawesi. The plane was known to carry 10 passengers.

The head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency confirmed an Aviastar Twin Otter DHC-6 aircraft lost contact shortly after taking off from the remote Masamba airport in North Luwu to the provincial capital Makassar at 2.29pm local time.

The airline was established in 12 June 2000 by Capt. Sugeng Triyono and his 4 colleagues which started as helicopter charter services company with various leased helicopters.

According to Aviation-safety.net, Aviastar has had four fatal incidents, including the crash of a British Aerospace 146-300 aircraft in the eastern province of Papua in 2009, killing all six crew on board.

Indonesia has a notoriously bad air safety record, with 59 of 63 airlines banned from flying in European Union airspace.

Air travel has increasingly become the preferred transport between the country’s 17,000 islands.