Wreckage of Indonesian surveillance plane that went missing found in South Sulawesi

Indonesian authorities have found the wreckage of a surveillance aircraft that went missing in South Sulawesi and have recovered the body of one of the 10 people on board. The others are still missing.

The ATR 42 turboprop, owned by aviation group Indonesia Air Transport, used for monitoring fishing activity, lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday at about 1.30pm local time, while flying from Yogyakarta to the provincial capital Makassar.

Debris has been spotted scattered across mountainous terrain near Mount Bulusaraung, almost 1,500kms northeast of the island nation’s capital, Jakarta.

A large-scale search is underway, and a national aviation safety body will investigate the cause of the crash.

The body of a man has been recovered from a ravine about 200m (656ft) deep on the slope of Mount Bulusaraung. The evacuation of the body is underway, said Muhammad Arif Anwar, who heads Makassar’s Search and Rescue Office and is the mission coordinator.

The body has not been identified yet, but the South Sulawesi Police have started summoning family members of the crew and passengers to begin the identification process as recovery operations continue.

Pictures released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday showed rescuers trekking along a steep, narrow mountain ridgeline blanketed in thick fog to reach scattered wreckage.

Parts of the turboplane were seen lying in the forest area amidst a thick blanket of fog.

The plane was carrying seven crew members and three passengers from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry when it was last tracked in the Leang-Leang area of Maros, a mountainous district of South Sulawesi province.

The three officials were part of an airborne maritime surveillance mission.

It was discovered a day later after a rescue team aboard an air force helicopter spotted a small aircraft window in a forested area on the slope of Mount Bulusaraung, said Mr Anwar.

They then launched a ground rescue operation and retrieved larger debris consistent with the main fuselage and tail scattered on a steep northern slope, Mr Anwar told a news conference.

“The discovery of the aircraft’s main sections significantly narrows the search zone and offers a crucial clue for tightening the search area,” Mr Anwar said.

“Our joint search and rescue teams are now focusing on searching for the victims, especially those who might still be alive.”

Andi Sultan, an official at South Sulawesi’s rescue agency said: “Our helicopter crews have seen the debris of the plane’s window at 7.46am. And around 7.49am, we discovered large parts of the aircraft, suspected to be the fuselage of the plane.”

He added that the tail of the plane was also seen at the bottom of the mountain slope.

Strong winds, heavy fog and steep rugged terrain slowed down the ground and air rescue teams, but the operation continued on Sunday, said Major General Bangun Nawoko, the South Sulawesi’s Hasanuddin military commander.

“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 for the identification process, while police have collected samples from other families elsewhere, including those of a flight attendant in Bogor, West Java, Jakarta Globe reported.

The ATR 42-500 is a short-haul regional turboprop aircraft developed by ATR, a joint venture between France’s Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo. It is designed for operations on short and medium routes, particularly in regions with challenging terrain or limited airport infrastructure. It can seat between 42 and 50 passengers.

Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 said on X that the aircraft had been flying at low altitude over the ocean, limiting tracking coverage. Its last signal was received at 4.20am GMT, about 20km north-east of Makassar airport.