A body has been found among the debris of the Indonesia Air Transport plane that went missing with 11 people on board.
At around 1:17 p.m. local time on Saturday, Jan. 17, the Indonesia Air Transport turboplane from Yogyakarta to Makassar lost contact with air traffic control between Maros and Pangkep Regions in South Sulawesi, according to Basarnas (SAR), Indonesia’s national search-and-rescue agency.
The plane was carrying eight crew members and three passengers at the time.
The body of one of the people who was onboard has since been found on Bulusaraung mountain among the plane’s wreckage, SAR confirmed in an Instagram post on Sunday, Jan. 18.
“One victim of the ATR 42-500 plane was found on the slope of the top of Bulusaraung mountain, the joint SAR is still evacuating,” SAR said in the translated post. The victim has not yet been publicly identified.
Footage from the scene of the wreckage shows debris of the plane scattered across the ground as rescue team members search for victims.
Hikers on Mount Bulusaraung in South Sulawesi reported having seen scattered debris, including what appeared to be an Indonesia Air logo and small fires burning in the area, according to the Associated Press. Rescue teams then embarked on a search mission in the area.
“Our helicopter crews have seen the debris of the plane’s window at 7:46 a.m.,” Mr Sultan, an official at South Sulawesi’s rescue agency, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). “And around 7:49 a.m., we discovered large parts of the aircraft, suspected to be the fuselage of the plane.”
The aircraft was reportedly chartered by Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to carry out a maritime surveillance operation, per the Metro and ABC.
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee head Soerjanto Tjahjono said that based on initial findings, it is believed that the plane crashed into the slope of the mountain, per ABC.
“We call this controlled flight into terrain. The pilot was able to control the plane and the crash was not intentional,” said Soerjanto.
