Search underway as passenger plane with 11 on board goes missing in Indonesia

A search and rescue operation is underway after a regional passenger aircraft carrying 11 people lost contact with ground control on Saturday.

The turboprop ATR 42-500 operated by Indonesia Air Transport was approaching a mountainous region between Yogyakarta on Indonesia’s main island of Java and Sulawesi island when it vanished from radar, said Endah Purnama Sari, a spokesperson for the Transportation Ministry.

The plane was last tracked at 1.17pm (05:17 GMT) in the Leang-Leang area of Maros, a mountainous district of South Sulawesi province.

Multiple search and rescue teams, supported by air force helicopters, drones and ground units, have been deployed, Sari said in a statement.

Hopes for locating the wreckage grew after hikers on Mount Bulusaraung reported finding scattered debris, a logo consistent with Indonesia Air Transport markings, and small fires still burning at the scene.

“The sightings were reported to authorities and are being verified by rescue teams attempting to reach the area,” said Maj. Gen. Bangun Nawoko, the South Sulawesi’s Hasanuddin military commander.

Sari said the plane disappeared shortly after being instructed by air traffic control to correct its approach alignment.

“After the last ATC instructions, radio contact was lost and controllers declared the emergency distress phase.”

She said rescue teams focused their search around the mountains where the aircraft, with eight crew members and three passengers from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry aboard, was believed to have deviated from its approach to Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport.

Weather conditions at the time indicated clouds and 8km visibility, Sari said.

Steep terrain at Bulusaraung National Park linking Maros and Pangkep districts has complicated the search efforts, Nawoko said.