Indonesia: All Die In Military Plane Crash In Irian Jaya
JAKARTA (IslamOnline and News Agencies) - Indonesian Search and Rescue (SAR) have finally found a crashed Navy Casa NC-212 plane, which had been reported missing since last Monday in Irian Jaya.
On Wednesday morning, the team testified the entire plane crew and passengers had died in the mysterious crash. They located the ill-fated aircraft in Silimo Village in Jayawijaya district in Irian Jaya.
The aircraft had carried the chief of the Trikora military command and other ranking officials of Irian Jaya province.
None of the dead have been successfully evacuated out of the area due to bad weather. The search was abandoned Wednesday and was expected to resume either later the same night or in Thursday morning.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid expressed his deep condolences to the victims' families.
The rescue team was led by Trikora regional military command intelligence assistant, Colonel (Infantry) Armin Tony, and consisted of personnel from the Air Force's elite force unit, Irian Jaya police's mobile brigade and Gorontalo 712 battalion.
Wahid said he received confirmation from the Indonesian Defense Force's (TNI) Chief Admiral Widodo AS and National Police Chief General S Bimantoro that all passengers and crewmembers of the Casa NC-212 died in the accident.
The NC-212 aircraft carried nine people, namely Trikora military command chief Major General Tonny Rompies, Irian Jaya Police Chief Inspector General FX Soemardi, chief Irian Jaya public prosecutor Bismar Mannu, Chairman of Irian Jaya's legislative council Nathaniel Kaywai, and Governor-Adjutant Jitmau
The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sutopo Waluyo, co-piloted by First Lieutenant Dedy Haryanto, and assisted by four other crewmembers.
News reports confirmed Monday that the Navy's Casa aircraft carrying high-ranking Irian Jaya regional officials hit a mountain in Kurima subdistrict, Jayawijaya district, Irian Jaya.
The ANTARA news agency from Wamena on Wednesday morning received confirmation of the crash from information and video records from Asmat Air Captain Pinky JF who said he saw pieces of the ill-fated plane at about 06.15 a.m. local time a radius of 30 meters from the location.
