Farouk Arnaz

Indonesian National Police Plane Missing Over Papua

The National Police will send a search and rescue team to Papua on Tuesda to look for a missing plane.

The aircraft, a twin-propeller Skytruck logistical plane, was carrying four passengers, said Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak, the National Police deputy spokesman.

The plane left Papua’s Sentani Airport at 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday and was scheduled to arrive at Mulia town in Puncak Jaya district at 12:30 p.m. Airport officials lost radio contact with the aircraft at around noon.

The pilots’ names were Adjutant Comr. Yunus and Second Insp. Benecditus. They were with two engineers, whose names were not available at press time.

The police said it was forced to start deploying a search team only today because of bad weather in the area on Monday.

“We hope that we can still find them alive and safe,” Sulistyo said.

Small aircraft are a key mode of transportation for police in Papua, which has large swathes of rough terrain.

The National Police currently operates several light aircraft and helicopters, including four PZL M28 Skytrucks, a Bizjet 400SP, a Casa NC-212/200, Beechcraft 18CH and a Fokker F50. They are maintained at the Air Police headquarters at Pondok Cabe Airport, south of Jakarta.

Air accidents are not uncommon in Papua and are caused mostly by bad weather. In August, all 15 passengers died after a plane crashed in a mountainous region in eastern Papua.

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