Wreckage of Downed ATR 42 Located in South Sulawesi, Identification Process Begins
Makassar. Search and rescue teams have located the wreckage of an ATR 42-500 turboprop aircraft that crashed in South Sulawesi with 10 people on board, as police begin preparations to identify the victims, authorities said on Sunday.
The aircraft was found in the Puncak Bulusaraung area of Pangkep Regency on Sunday morning, according to officials. In Makassar, police have started summoning family members of the crew and passengers to assist with the identification process, amid slim hopes of finding survivors.
Debris from the aircraft was first detected at 7:17 a.m. local time during an aerial search conducted by a search-and-rescue helicopter, said Edy Prakoso, deputy for operations at the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas). About an hour later, ground teams reached the site and found the aircraft’s fuselage wreckage near the mountain summit.
However, evacuation efforts using helicopters could not be carried out immediately due to strong winds and thick fog at the crash site, Edy said.
Family members of the crew and passengers of the aircraft, operated by Indonesia Air Transport, have arrived at the Aviation Security office at Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport to assist forensic teams in collecting antemortem data. Police medical personnel tasked with examinations and data collection have also been deployed and placed on standby.
“The national police disaster victim identification team has been sent here,” South Sulawesi Police Chief Inspector General Djuhandhani Rahardjo Puro said.
The younger brother of the aircraft’s co-pilot, Farhan Gunawan, has arrived in Makassar to undergo the identification process. Police have also approached families in other locations to expedite data collection. Djuhandhani said samples from the family of flight attendant Esther Aprilita, for example, were collected by West Java Police in Bogor.
Authorities said the identification process will proceed in stages as recovery operations continue and weather conditions permit further evacuation efforts.
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