RESCUE TEAM CONTINUES SEARCH FOR MISSING MERPATI PLANE

Jayapura, Papua, Aug 4 (ANTARA) - A search and rescue team Tuesday continued their search for a Merpati airways Twin Otter plane that had gone missing in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua since Sunday.
Five planes, including two Merpati Twin Otter planes were mobilized in the search for the missing plane, Commander of the Sentani Air Base Col Suwandi said on Tuesday.

The other three planes came from the Association of Mission Aviation (AMA), the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and the Yajasi foundation.

Suwandi said an Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) Cessna plane did not join the search on Tuesday because it was conducting a routine activity.

A search for the missing aircraft was hampered by bad weather on Monday morning.

Because of the bad weather only one of the five planes that had originally been planned to take part in the Monday search was mobilized.
Suwandi said the search was carried out around the route of the missing Merpati plane piloted by Qadrianova.

The Twin Otter with 12 passengers, including two babies, on board, lost contact with the tower while flying between Jayapura and Oksibil, Pegunungan Bintang District. on Sunday (Aug 2).

However, the plane had earlier made a contact with the pilot of an Indonesian Air Force's Cassa aircraft flying from Oksibil to Sentani, before it lost contact with the tower.

The MZ 9760 D aircraft which took off from Jayapura at 10.15 a.m. Eastern Indonesia Standard Time (WIT) was scheduled to arrive at 11.05 a.m..

Before taking off, the Twin Otter plane had already undergone the routine airworthiness check and a full tank for 3.5 hours of flying, but it needs only 55 minutes to cover this route.

The Transportation Ministry said on Monday the Merpati plane that lost contact with the tower was still missing.

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