Bodies spotted at crash site

Theresia Sufa and Wahyoe Boediwardhana

The Jakarta Post, Bogor/Malang

Passengers of an Air Force aircraft that crashed on Mount Salak are feared dead, with locals who found the wreckage saying Friday they had seen bodies around the crash site.

The remains of the 1984 Casa light transport airplane, which was carrying 18 passengers including three foreign nationals and some high-ranking officers, was found in a gorge in Tenjolaya district in Bogor, West Java, about 60 kilometers south of Jakarta.

The plane took off from Halim Perdanakusumah Air Base in East Jakarta at 9:23 a.m. on Thursday, and contact was lost at 10:28 a.m., deputy chief of staff Vice Marshal I Gusti Made Oka said.

Five crew members were among the passengers on the NC-212 aircraft series 200.

A local resident, Hari, told Metro TV the aircraft had "split in two". Villagers reported seeing body parts as well as aircraft debris.

Officers said that although pilots had spotted the debris, evacuation of the aircraft and victims would not begin until early Saturday because of heavy rain and the mountainous terrain.

Oka confirmed Friday that local residents had found the missing aircraft in Tegal Lilin hamlet in Pasir Gaok village.

He said he could not confirm whether there were any casualties.

"We are not sure of that yet although villagers said they saw bodies scattered around the airplane. Let's hope there is a miracle," he said.

The airplane was conducting an aerial surveillance training mission. The 13 passengers included seven officers, including those from the Air Force's aerial mapping and surveillance agency.

Six other passengers were civilians, including three foreign instructors from a firm supplying digital mapping. The foreign nationals were identified as a Briton, an Indian and a Singaporean.

Air Force chief spokesman Air Commodore Chaerudin Ray told The Jakarta Post the Air Force had deployed two Puma and two NBO-105 helicopters in the rescue mission and the national SAR agency had deployed one NBO-105 helicopter.

He said the airplane belonged to the 4th Squadron at the Abdulrachman Saleh Air Force Base in Malang, East Java.

The Air Force operations chief at the Abdurrahman Saleh Air Base in Malang, Col. Ismet Ismaya Saleh, said the plane had been in good condition for aerial mapping and had been in better condition than seven other similar aircraft at the air base.

Novan Iman Santosa contributed to this report from Jakarta.

First published on The Jakarta Post on Saturday, June 28, 2008