INDONESIA-PLANE/NEWSER Weather hampers search for wreckage of crashed Indonesian plane

Record ID: 143681

  • Title: INDONESIA-PLANE/NEWSER Weather hampers search for wreckage of crashed Indonesian plane
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (AUGUST 17, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF INDONESIA'S SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY SIGNBOARD READING (BAHASA INDONESIA): "SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY" CAMERAMEN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) DEPUTY OPERATIONAL OFFICER OF NATIONAL SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY, HERONIMUS GURU SAYING: "The weather has become foggy so the search and rescue team's helicopter that
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8FOETS70TPKP7781H0KCRJDWB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Indonesian rescuers called off the search for the day on Monday (August 17) after foggy weather hampered the operation to hunt for the wreckage of a crashed Indonesian aircraft in a remote area.
    "The weather has become foggy so the search and rescue team's helicopter that supposed to search the area was forced to return to Oksibil Airport," Heronimus Guru, the deputy operational officer of National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters in Jakarta after the search concluded.
    The wreckage of passenger plane was spotted earlier in the day but it would need a second group of rescuers to approach the site on foot, said Guru, adding that the ground troop is likely to arrive later tonight to start the search early tomorrow morning.
    The debris is located in heavily forested Bintang Mountains district, Guru said.
    "Because of the dense or extreme forest condition, it makes it very difficult to reach the area using the normal amount of time, although it is located about seven nautical miles or 14 kilometers from Oksibil Airport," he said.
    The Trigana Air Service ATR 42-300 plane crashed on Sunday (August 16) half way from Sentani Airport in Jayapura to the southern town of Oksibil with 49 passengers and five crew. The flight was carrying cash worth around $470,000 for remote villages, a post office spokesman told Reuters.
    There was no suggestion that the large sum of money being transported on the plane was linked to its crash.
    When asked about the manifest, Guru said he has no knowledge on that.
    "On the question on whether the flight was carrying money or not, it is not our concern because we have no information on that. So I cannot answer the question," said Guru.
    All passengers were Indonesians, officials of the search and rescue agency said.
    Air transport is commonly used in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, where land travel is often impossible.
    Trigana Air Service has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network. Excluding this latest incident, it has written off 10 aircraft.
    The airline has been on the European Union's list of banned carriers since 2007 due to safety or regulatory concerns.
    Indonesia has a patchy aviation safety record and has seen two major plane crashes in the past year, including an AirAsia flight that went down in the Java Sea, killing all 162 on board.
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