Debris found after plane carrying 11 people goes missing in mountains of Indonesia
Rescue teams have recovered wreckage from a plane that disappeared in a cloudy mountain range in Indonesia with 11 people on board.
The aircraft, operated by Indonesia Air Transport, is believed to have crashed as it approached mountains on Sulawesi island on Saturday.
The turboprop ATR 42-500 vanished from radar at 1.17pm (6.17am in the UK) after being instructed by air traffic control to correct its alignment before a scheduled landing in the province’s capital Makassar.
The plane was carrying eight crew members and three passengers as part of a maritime surveillance mission.
A rescue helicopter trying to locate the wreckage site on Sunday morning first spotted a small aircraft window in a forested area on Mount Bulusaraung.
Search teams on the ground then came across larger debris scattered on a steep northern slope.
These crash remains were consistent with the main fuselage and tail, according to Makassar’s Search and Rescue Office head, Muhammad Arif Anwar.
He told a news conference: ‘The discovery of the aircraft’s main sections significantly narrows the search zone and offers a crucial clue for tightening the search area.
‘Our joint search and rescue teams are now focusing on searching for the victims, especially those who might still be alive.’
Ground and air rescue teams, which total more than 1,000 people, are battling heavy fog, winds, and rugged terrain to reach the wreckage site on Sunday.
Photos and videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed rescuers trekking along a steep, narrow mountain ridgeline covered in thick fog to the crash site.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport and ferries to connect its over 17,000 islands.
The Southeast Asian country has experienced several fatal accidents in recent years and has a poor record on air safety.
In September, six passengers and two crew members were killed when a helicopter crashed soon after takeoff in South Kalimantan province.
Less than two weeks later, four people died in another helicopter crash in the Papua province.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.