Spokesman of the Mimika district transportation, communication and information service John Rettob said on Sunday the Bell-412 helicopter with register number HA 5113 left Mozes Kilangin airport in Timika, Papua, for Wamena at 03.45 p.m. on Saturday.
The helicopter was supposed to evacuate the crew of Susi Air passenger plane which crashed in a mountainous area in Yahukimo district, Papua, on Friday. It takes 1 hour and 50 minutes to fly from Timika to Wamena.
"We received a report that the Army helicopter which left Timika on Saturday evening lost communication 15 nautical miles before it landed at Wamena," Rettob said.
Until Saturday night the Timika airport authorities continued to coordinate with the Wamena airport and other airports in the province, he said.
It was still unclear whether the Army helicopter made an emergency landing in a certain place or had an accident, he said.
Neither did he know the number of crew members going with the Army helicopter.
The helicopter had originally planned to leave Timika for the crash site at Saminage Silimo area in Yahukimo district by carrying rescue workers from Timika on Saturday morning.
However, the rescue workers could not soon depart for Saminage Silimo because they still had to coordinate with a search and rescue team in Jayapura responsible for evacuating the crew of Susi Air plane.
By Saturday, the crew of Susi Air plane had not been evacuated.
On Saturday, a helicopter flew twice from Wamena to Saminage village, carrying eight personnel of the Jayapura Search and Rescue team and aviation turbine (avtur) fuel.
From Saminage, the rescue workers walked for two hours to reach the crash site at 9,000-10,000 feet above sea level.
The SAR team would evacuate Susi Air plane`s pilot Dave Coots and co-pilot Thomas Munk to Saminage from where they would be flown to Silimo airport and later to Timika aboard a helicopter.
The fate of the Susi Air crew is still unknown.
The Susi Air plane crashed on Friday after it lost contact with the air traffic control tower in Wamena, Jayawijaya district.
The Cessna 108 B Grand Caravan departed from Wamena at 12.20 local time for Kenyam, Nduga district, Papua. There were no passengers on board but only its pilot, Dave Coots (Australia), and copilot, Thomas Munk, (Slovakia).(*)
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
