Search area expanded to locate missing Indonesian plane

Wreckage of a small passenger plane, which went missing last week in eastern Indonesia, has been found, a rescue official said on Monday.

According to the flight’s manifest, the plane had been carrying seven passengers – including a child and two babies – and three crewmembers.

Two military helicopters and two planes from the airline were used to search the beaches and mountains, he added.

The Aviastar plane lost contact with air traffic control during a 70-minute flight Friday en route from Masamba town to the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar.

National SAR Chief Air Marshal FH Bambang Soelistyo said the team will be combing the areas of Bone Bay using Aviastar’s DHC6-PK BRS aircraft, similar to the missing aircraft.

Heronimus Guru, deputy operations director of Indonesia’s Basarnas search agency, said almost 300 people were deployed Sunday searching the area near Suli and Siwa in South Sulawesi province. This is a device attached to the black-boxes which emits a signal that can then aid rescue teams in pinpointing the exact location of the aircraft.

The 1981 Canadian-made plane joined Aviastar in January 2014 and underwent its most recent maintenance on September 15.

The agency had suspended the air search at desk Saturday due to hard terrain and weather conditions. Soelistyo hopes the search efforts will lead to better clues today, as the previous operations during the weekend were hindered by bad weather and rough terrain.

The disappearance is the latest setback for an Indonesian aviation sector that has struggled with accidents and poor oversight.