Today, we conducted five flights, including the one that we did with a Twin Otter aircraft owned by PT Carpediem at 6.15 a.m. local time. We flew above the main suspected area at the height of 14,000 feet but we have yet to see any clues
Timika, Papua (ANTARA) - A search and rescue team conducted five unsuccessful sorties Thursday to locate a Twin Otter aircraft that had gone missing Wednesday morning. The search to find the missing aircraft which was carrying nearly 1.6 tons of the State Logistics Agency's (Bulog's) rice on board would continue Friday, Timika-based Yohanes Kapiyau Air Force Base Commander Lt. Col. Sugeng Sugiharto said here Thursday.

"Today, we conducted five flights, including the one that we did with a Twin Otter aircraft owned by PT Carpediem at 6.15 a.m. local time. We flew above the main suspected area at the height of 14,000 feet but we have yet to see any clues," he said.

The search operations involved two aircraft and 13 SAR members, Head of the Timika Search and Rescue Agency (SAR) Monce Brury told ANTARA.

The SAR members are from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Indonesian Air Force and the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob). They attempted to trace the missing aircraft until Jila subdistrict's area in Mimika District.

The aircraft disappeared after take-off from the Moses Kilangain Airport in Timika, Mimika District, en route to Ilaga, the capital of Puncak District in Papua Province.

The chartered aircraft belonged to PT Carpediem, the head of the Moses Kilangain Airport in Timika, Ambar Suryoko stated.

It was being piloted by Dasep, who was accompanied by a flight officer, an engineer, and a passenger, head of the Jayapura SAR Agency Putu Agra remarked earlier.

The aircraft, which bore the registration number PK-CDC RTB, took off at 10:36 a.m. local time and was scheduled to land at Ilaga at 11:09 a.m., Agra stated.

However, when there was no sign of the aircraft until 11:35 a.m. at Ilaga, the aviation authorities there issued an INCERFA status at 11:40 a.m. to notify all concerned about the status of the aircraft and those on board, he stated. (INE)
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Translator: Evarianus S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
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