The wreckage of a missing Indonesian plane has been found as rescuers have recovered the body of one person on board.
The ATR 42-500, operated by Indonesia Air Transport (IAT), departed Yogyakarta bound for Makassar on Sulawesi island with 10 people on board.
Communication with the aircraft ceased at about 1.30pm local time on Saturday around the Maros region in South Sulawesi.
There were seven crew members and three passengers on board the plane, which was chartered by Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to conduct air surveillance on fisheries. The passengers were understood to be ministry staff members.
Authorities had initially said eight crew members were on board but later revised the figure.
Local rescuers found the wreckage of the plane in different locations around Mount Bulusaraung in the Maros region, according to an official at South Sulawesi’s rescue agency.
The mountain is roughly 1,500 km (930 miles) northeast of the sprawling island nation’s capital, Jakarta.
“Our helicopter crews have seen the debris of the plane’s window at 7.46am,” the official said.
The Indonesian Air Transport ATR 42-500 went missing mid-flight
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INDONESIA AIR TRANSPORT“And around 7.49am, we discovered large parts of the aircraft, suspected to be the fuselage of the plane.”
Rescuers located other wreckage such as the aircraft engine and passenger seats.
On Sunday afternoon, rescuers found a crash victim’s body in a ravine around 200 m (650 feet) from Mount Bulusaraung’s peak.
The status of the other nine people on board remains unclear.
Communication with the aircraft was lost at around 1.30pm local time on Saturday
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FLIGHTRADAR24Investigators are yet to determine the cause of the crash.
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee head, Soerjanto Tjahjono, said based on the agency’s initial findings, the aircraft had collided with the mountain’s slope.
IAT said in a statement that the aircraft had technical problems but it was declared airworthy before flying to Makassar.
“There was a problem with the engineering but we have fixed it and tested the plane on Friday, the flight from Halim airport in Jakarta to Semarang and Yogyakarta city went well without a hitch,” said IAT Operations Director Edwin.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said on X that plane was flying over the ocean at a low altitude so its tracking coverage was limited and the last signal was received at 4.20am GMT about 20 km northeast of Makassar airport.
