NO PROOF YET ACEH WRECKAGE OF M'SIAN AIRCRAFT

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, Aug 6 (Bernama) -- The aircraft wreckage spotted in a hilly region of
Aceh Besar in Sumatra on Tuesday has yet to be verified as belonging to planes
from Malaysia reported missing in the area more than 20 years ago.

Malaysia's consul general in Medan, Norlin Othman, said the Aceh police had only
detected the wreckage from the air and had yet to determine the type of aircraft
or the country it had come from.

"Such verification can only be done after the Aceh police sends a team there by
land. It is said that the trek to the location will take two days and two
nights.

"We do not know when the operation will be undertaken because right now the Aceh
area is experiencing strong winds," she said when contacted Thursday.

Norlin said the Malaysian consulate general in Medan would be in contact with
the Aceh police to obtain verification before taking subsequent measures.

She was asked to comment on an Aceh newspaper report on the discovery of the
aircraft wreckage along with human skeletal remains.

Norlin said the Aceh police were not able to confirm the presence of human
skeletal remains in the wreckage until a team on foot had been despatched there.

Records indicate that two aircraft from Malaysia have reportedly crashed in Aceh
and had yet to be found because they went down in thick jungle.

One of the planes was an Otter, which crashed in 1989, and the other, a Skyvan,
which went down in 1993.
-- BERNAMA