A deceased individual has been discovered during the search efforts for 11 individuals who were on board a plane that went missing and is suspected to have crashed, with various wreckage pieces also being found. The aircraft disappeared while approaching a hilly region on Sulawesi island, Indonesia, amid cloudy weather conditions. The search and rescue team located the body of a man in a ravine approximately 200 meters deep on the slope of Mount Bulusaraung on Sunday afternoon, near scattered airplane debris.
Muhammad Arif Anwar, the head of Makassar’s Search and Rescue Office and the mission coordinator, mentioned that the body recovery operation is currently in progress. Additionally, teams discovered more wreckage, which included fragments of the aircraft’s structure and passenger seats, and visually confirmed what is believed to be the engine.
Although the body has not been identified yet, it is presumed to be from the turboprop ATR 42-500 that was en route from Yogyakarta on Java to Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, when it disappeared from radar on Saturday after receiving instructions from air traffic control to adjust its approach alignment. The aircraft, operated by Indonesia Air Transport, was last traced at 1:17 p.m. in the Leang-Leang area of Maros, a mountainous region in South Sulawesi, carrying eight crew members and three passengers from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry who were part of a maritime surveillance mission.
On Sunday morning, a rescue team aboard an air force helicopter spotted what seemed to be a small aircraft window in a wooded area on Mount Bulusaraung’s slope. Subsequently, rescuers on the ground recovered larger debris resembling the main fuselage and tail strewn across a steep northern incline, as disclosed by Muhammad Arif Anwar during a press briefing.
Anwar emphasized that the discovery of significant parts of the aircraft narrows down the search area, aiding in the search for potential survivors. Despite challenging weather conditions such as strong winds, dense fog, and rugged terrain slowing down the search efforts, ground and air rescue teams have been persistently advancing towards the wreckage site, with over 100 personnel and Specialized Search and Rescue Units deployed.
The search and rescue operations have been hampered by heavy rain and limited visibility due to thick fog, with only about five meters of visibility at the peak. Major General Bangun Nawoko, the Hasanuddin military commander in South Sulawesi, mentioned that these conditions have impacted movement and even led to the cancellation of a planned vertical descent for safety reasons.
Visual materials released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday depicted rescuers trekking along a steep, narrow mountain ridge enveloped in dense fog to reach scattered wreckage. Indonesia heavily relies on air travel and ferries for connectivity among its numerous islands, with the country experiencing various transportation accidents in recent years, including plane crashes, bus incidents, and ferry disasters.