Midnight Mike
01-01-2007, 11:24 AM
Rescue teams look for plane in Indonesia
An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 102 people disappeared in stormy weather on Monday, and rescue teams were sent to search in the area where the aircraft sent out a distress signal.
Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said a radio communication was picked up over central Sulawesi, an major island in the Indonesian archipelago about 470 miles from the Adam Air flight's destination. He said emergency crews were on their way to search for survivors.
"Let's hope the plane had an emergency landing," he told El-Shinta radio.
It was unknown if the Boeing 737-400 passenger plane disappeared over sea or land, but the Navy was contacted about a possible sea rescue operation.
Eddy Suyanto, military airport chief in South Sulawesi, said the distress signal indicated "a big chance it had an accident or a crash."
Air traffic controllers lost contact with flight KI-574 while it was flying at 35,000 feet from Indonesia's main island of Java to Sulawesi. It was still missing more than six hours after its scheduled arrival.
The plane — on a two-hour flight from East Java to Manado, on Sulawesi's northern tip — carried six crew and 96 passengers, including 11 children, Indonesia's El-Shinta radio reported.
Justin Tumurang, 25, was waiting at the airport to pick up her twin sister, but she never arrived.
"Being a twin, we share almost every feeling. I felt something was not right, and it grew worse. Now I feel pain," she said.
Weeks of seasonal rains and high winds in Indonesia have caused several deadly floods, landslides and maritime accidents, including the sinking of a ferry in the Java Sea on Friday that has left dozens dead and some 400 still missing. That accident was hundreds of miles from the area where the Adam Air plane disappeared.
An Indonesian air traffic controller, Bhabr, told Metro TV the plane hit "very bad" weather and may have run out of fuel because, if still airborne, it would be "over its (fuel) limit."
"This is an emergency," Bhabr, who like many Indonesians uses one name, told the broadcaster.
Adam Air, a privately owned low-cost airline, began operations in Indonesia several years ago and most of its flights are domestic. Last year, one of its jetliners lost all communication and navigation systems for four hours during a flight between the Indonesian capital Jakarta and Makassar on Sulawesi Island, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 102 people disappeared in stormy weather on Monday, and rescue teams were sent to search in the area where the aircraft sent out a distress signal.
Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said a radio communication was picked up over central Sulawesi, an major island in the Indonesian archipelago about 470 miles from the Adam Air flight's destination. He said emergency crews were on their way to search for survivors.
"Let's hope the plane had an emergency landing," he told El-Shinta radio.
It was unknown if the Boeing 737-400 passenger plane disappeared over sea or land, but the Navy was contacted about a possible sea rescue operation.
Eddy Suyanto, military airport chief in South Sulawesi, said the distress signal indicated "a big chance it had an accident or a crash."
Air traffic controllers lost contact with flight KI-574 while it was flying at 35,000 feet from Indonesia's main island of Java to Sulawesi. It was still missing more than six hours after its scheduled arrival.
The plane — on a two-hour flight from East Java to Manado, on Sulawesi's northern tip — carried six crew and 96 passengers, including 11 children, Indonesia's El-Shinta radio reported.
Justin Tumurang, 25, was waiting at the airport to pick up her twin sister, but she never arrived.
"Being a twin, we share almost every feeling. I felt something was not right, and it grew worse. Now I feel pain," she said.
Weeks of seasonal rains and high winds in Indonesia have caused several deadly floods, landslides and maritime accidents, including the sinking of a ferry in the Java Sea on Friday that has left dozens dead and some 400 still missing. That accident was hundreds of miles from the area where the Adam Air plane disappeared.
An Indonesian air traffic controller, Bhabr, told Metro TV the plane hit "very bad" weather and may have run out of fuel because, if still airborne, it would be "over its (fuel) limit."
"This is an emergency," Bhabr, who like many Indonesians uses one name, told the broadcaster.
Adam Air, a privately owned low-cost airline, began operations in Indonesia several years ago and most of its flights are domestic. Last year, one of its jetliners lost all communication and navigation systems for four hours during a flight between the Indonesian capital Jakarta and Makassar on Sulawesi Island, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.