A passenger aircraft carrying 11 people lost contact with ground control Saturday while approaching a mountainous region in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province, prompting an ongoing search and rescue effort, according to Indonesian transportation officials.
Endah Purnama Sari, a spokesperson for the Transportation Ministry, said the ATR 42-500 operated by Indonesia Air Transport vanished from radar while it was approaching the area, a mountainous stretch between the main island of Java and Sulawesi. She said the plane was on its way from Yogyakarta to the capital city of South Sulawesi and that it was last tracked at 01:17 p.m. (0517 GMT) in the Leang-Leang area of Maros.
Sari said multiple search and rescue teams were deployed, with support including air force helicopters, drones and ground units. She said the aircraft disappeared shortly after it was instructed by air traffic control to correct its approach alignment, and that after the last ATC instructions, radio contact was lost and controllers declared the emergency distress phase.
Rescue teams focused their search on mountainous terrain where the aircraft was believed to have deviated from its approach to Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport. Sari said the aircraft had eight crew members and three passengers from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry aboard, part of an airborne maritime surveillance mission related to fisheries management operations.
Hopes for locating the wreckage grew after hikers on Mount Bulusaraung reported finding scattered debris, a logo consistent with Indonesia Air Transport markings, and small fires still burning at the scene. Maj. Gen. Bangun Nawoko, the South Sulawesi’s Hasanuddin military commander, said the sightings were reported to authorities and are being verified by rescue teams attempting to reach the area.
Nawoko and Sari also pointed to conditions and terrain that complicate efforts in the region. Sari said weather conditions included clouds and 8-kilometer (nearly 5-mile) visibility, and Nawoko said steep terrain at Bulusaraung National Park linking Maros and Pangkep districts complicated the search efforts.
Late Saturday, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono told a news conference that three employees of his ministry were aboard the flight. Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago nation, and it relies heavily on air transport and ferries to connect its more than 17,000 islands.