Contact was lost Friday morning with a Canadian-built DHC-5 Twin Otter passenger plane from Indonesia’s domestic Aviastar Mandiri airline, as the plane was over Sulawesi island.
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Indonesian rescue members stay on the deck of a boat during a search for the missing Aviastar airplane at Bua Sea in Luwu, South Sulawesi provinceMAKASSAR: Rescuers Monday found the wreckage of a plane carrying 10 people that disappeared during a flight in central Indonesia last week, the latest accident to hit the archipelago nation’s aviation sector.
National Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said the wreckage was found Monday in a forest in a mountainous area of Luwu District. Ten people – seven passengers and three crew – were on board, he said.
“We haven’t got to search for the black box, we’re still focusing on the bodies”, Thahar said, adding that the steep slope made retrieval hard.
The Twin Otter DHC-6 plane with 10 people aboard lost contact at 0636 GMT on Friday en route from Masamba to Makassar. “They will be transported to Ulu Salu village and airlifted by a helicopter to Makassar city”, Tjahar told Xinhua, referring to the provincial capital of South Sulawesi.
The search team climbed the almost 3000-meter high mountain for two days before arriving at the plane crash site, Barung said. Director General of Air Transportation Suprasetyo said officials were investigating that possibility.
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It is one of Asia’s most rapidly expanding airline markets, but is struggling to obtain qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and modern airport technology.
