...many Ilaga residents had been waiting at the local airport for going out from Ilaga soon..."Timika (ANTARA News) - Following the conflict between two groups supporting two candidates for Puncak Papua regent two days ago, thousands of Ilaga residents were still waiting for planes for their evacuation from the area to Timika.
Head of the air transportation division of the Mimika Transportation, Communication and Information Agency John Rettob confirmed it to ANTARA on the basis reports from a number of flight operators.
"According to the reports that we have received today, many Ilaga residents had been waiting at the local airport for going out from Ilaga soon. And many of them had to jostle with others to get on the very limited number of planes," John said.
He said today three airline companies are flying from Timika to Ilaga, namely Trigana Air three flights to carry 29 police mobile brigade personnel at the request of the Papua police chief and Puncak Papua regent Rizki Ambrauw.
The two other airline companies John Lin Air and Susy Air which were supposed to fly cargo to Ilaga only, but when they got back to Timika they were "forced" to meet the request of the residents seeking refuge.
John Lin Air flies from Timika to Ilaga and back three times, while Susy Air flies from Timika to Ilaga and back twice.
"All the flights from Ilaga to Timika were packed, with Trigana Air had even flown up to 18 passengers," John said.
The flight from Timika to Ilaga takes only 30-40 minutes, depending on the weather with a ticket for a pioneering flight of Rp350 thousand per person, and a commercial ticket of Rp500 thousand per person.
John said a number of pioneering flight operators in Timika expressed their readiness to help evacuate the Ilaga residents wishing to seek refuge in Timika, bit it all depends on the security situation in Ilaga.
"Tomorrow there may still a flight to Ilaga because the location of the conflict is quite far from Ilaga airport, it takes an hour on foot. There is a wish of the flight operators to help evacuate the residents wishing leave the area because they were to many of them, but everything depends on the security situation there," John said.
He said that there has been no official requests from Puncak Papua administration to all the flight operators to help evacuate the residents out of the regency which had only recently been expanded from its main regency of Puncak Jaya.
As in Ilaga, on Monday till late in the afternoon, many residents especially from Kwamki Lama and Utikini Baru came to the Mozes Kilangin airport in Timika armed with bows and arrows to go to Ilaga to help the two conflicting groups.
Responding to the matter, John said, a number of religious figures from the Kingmi Church have asked the flight operators not to meet the requests of the Timika residents, especially to the residents armed with sharp weapons.
"We have also told all the flight operators not to serve the residents who are trying hard to leave for Ilaga, especially those armed with sharp weapons. The flight is only for those with a ticket they had bought last week before the conflict broke out in Ilaga," John said.
In view of the unfavorable condition of Mozes Kilangin airport on Monday afternoon, John has asked the airport`s management to increase their security personnel especially near the departure and arrival terminals of the pioneering planes to a number of hinterlands to prevent undesirable developments.
The clash between the two groups supporting the candidates of the Puncak Papua regent - deputy regent, Elvis Tabuni-Heri Dosinay and the supporters of Simon Alom - Yosian Tenbak pair which broke out on Saturday (July 30) till Sunday (July 31) had cost the lives of 17 people and a number of houses and cars set on fire.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
