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The Indonesian Air Force is still searching for its aircraft went missing since Thursday morning while being on an aerial photography training mission, chief spokesman Air Commodore Chaeruddin Ray told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

“We are combing all the mountain slopes from where the aircraft was last contacted down south to the sea,” he said.

“We cannot pinpoint the exact location as the airplane’s emergency locator beacon (ELB) simply does not send any signals.”

Chaeruddin said the airplane was in airworthy condition when it was cleared to take off.

“The airplane is also equipped with jungle and survival kits,” he said.

The NC-212-200 light transport airplane belongs to the 4th Squadron at the Abdulrachman Saleh Air Force Base in Malang, East Java.

The airplane took off from the Halim Perdanakusumah Air Force Base in East Jakarta at 9:23 a.m. The contact was lost at 10:28 a.m. It is predicted that the airplane went down around Salak Mountain in Bogor, West Java.

There were 18 people including three foreigners in the airplane for a training mission using digital mapping camera.

The foreigners are Briton Kwon Ping Anthony, Indian Mahendra Kumar and Singaporean Tan Hong King. There are also three Indonesian civilians. All six were from a firm supplying the camera.

The airplane is manned by five crew member and seven officers from the air force’ aerial mapping and surveillance agency.

Update:

The Air Force deputy chief of staff Vice Marshal I Gusti Made Oka confirmed Friday that the location of a missing aircraft had been found although rescue workers had yet to reach the area.

“The location is at a deep gorge as reported by some residents,” he told Metro TV station.

Residents have reported that they have seen ruins of the ill- fated NC-212-200 light transport airplane at Tegal Lilin hamlet of Pasir Gaok village in Tenjolaya district.

He added that his pilots cannot land near the location as the weather was bad and the terrain was difficult.

However, he said, all the victims would be evacuated as soon as possible as the Air Force had prepared a makeshift helipad near the location.

Oka said he cannot confirmed whether all people onboard were dead.

“We are not sure of that yet although villagers said they saw bodies scattered around the airplane. Let’s hope there is a miracle,” he said.

The airplane was conducting an aerial surveillance training mission when it lost contact at about 10:23 a.m. The aircraft tail registration number is A-2106.

The airplane is manned by 5 crew member and carrying 13 passengers. Seven of them are officers from air force’ aerial mapping and surveillance agency.

Six other passengers are civilians, including three foreigners, from a firm supplying a digital mapping. The foreigners were instructors in the training mission.

Source: The Jakarta Post