The rescuers will have to walk to reach the crash site that is believed to be around Okbab waterfall in Pegunungan Bintang District area, Commander of Wamena military district Lt. Col. Moh. Aidi noted here on Monday.
Led by Lt. Col. Arif from the border security task force, members of the search and rescue mission were transported by cars before they continued their trek to the crash site, he remarked.
"We are not yet able to predict when they will reach the crash site," he said, adding that the weather conditions posed a serious challenge to the search and rescue mission.
A helicopter, sent from Timika to the crash site, was not able to land due to bad weather conditions, Aidi revealed.
According to Pegunungan Bintang district government, the crash site of the aircraft carrying five crew members and 49 passengers, including two children and three infants, is believed to be in Tiga Village, Okpabe sub-district.
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation, the ill-fated ATR aircraft bearing flight number 267 lost contact on Sunday, at 2:55 p.m. local time.
Chief of the Sentani air base Col. I Made Susila Adyana informed Antara that his airbase, in cooperation with the search and rescue team, had mapped out the crash location of the ATR-type aircraft.
Chief of Bintang Mountain Resort Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Yunus Wally noted that the aircraft is believed to have crashed during its flight from Jayapura to Oksibil.
The aircraft, with pilot Hasanudin and co-pilot Aryadi, was scheduled to arrive in Oksibil at 3:15 p.m. Eastern Indonesian Time after a 55-minute flight, but it failed to arrive on the scheduled time.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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