Makassar, S. Sulawesi. The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has officially ended search and recovery operations for victims of the ATR 42-500 aircraft crash in South Sulawesi after all 10 people on board were accounted for, authorities said Friday.

Basarnas chief Air Marshal Mohammad Syafii announced the closure of the operation on the seventh day of the search during a briefing at the agency’s Makassar office on Friday night.

“As the head of Basarnas and chief coordinator of the search and rescue operation, I hereby declare that the search and evacuation operation for the ATR aircraft accident is officially concluded,” Syafii said.

The decision followed the discovery of the final human remains earlier in the day in the mountainous Bulusaraung area of Pangkep Regency. Joint SAR teams located what were described as the ninth and tenth recovery packages, believed to contain fragmented remains, bringing the total number of recovered packages to 10.

Andi Sultan, head of preparedness and operations at Basarnas Makassar, said the latest finds were made shortly after 9 a.m. local time and were in the process of evacuation.

“Based on the latest field reports, the total number of recovery packages at the operation site has reached 10, all of which are now being handled by the joint SAR team,” he said.

Two of the recovered packages have already been transported to the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) post at Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force Base for forensic identification, Sultan added.

Basarnas said additional personnel from rescue units in Mamuju, Kendari, and Palu were deployed to assist with the evacuation process in the rugged terrain of Mount Bulusaraung, where access was hampered by steep slopes and dense forest.

The Indonesia Air Transport turboprop aircraft disappeared from radar on Saturday afternoon while approaching Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar. Authorities later confirmed the plane had crashed in a remote mountainous area near the border between Maros and Pangkep regencies.

Rescue teams recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — commonly referred to as the black boxes — earlier in the week, a key step in determining the cause of the crash.

The ATR 42-500, registered as PK-THT, was carrying 10 people: seven crew members and three passengers. The passengers were identified as Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry officials Ferry Irawan, Deden Maulana and Yoga Naufal.

The crew included Captain Andi Dahananto, co-pilot Muhammad Farhan Gunawan, and crew members Hariadi, Restu Adi, Dwi Murdiono, Florencia Lolita and Esther Aprilita.

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