Search continues for helicopter crash victims

JAKARTA (JP): A search and rescue team continued its search for the missing crewmen and passenger from the helicopter chartered by Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) Indonesia which crashed in the Java Sea on Wednesday.

The head of security, health and relations at the foreign contractors management body of state oil and gas company Pertamina, Sidick Nitikusuma, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday the rescue team was searching for the missing persons from morning to afternoon around the crash site in the Arjuna offshore field around 100 kilometers north of Jakarta.

The missing persons were identified as helicopter captain Edward Tampubolon, a Pertamina physician attached to ARCO, Asri Basyir, and helicopter loadmaster Atok (not Datok as printed on this page on Thursday). Tampubolon and Atok were employees of PT Derazona, which owns the helicopter.

"The search effort will not stop until the missing persons are found," Sidick said.

He said the search and rescue team included 10 divers from the National Search and Rescue Body.

The Bell 206 was chartered by ARCO, a subsidiary of United States oil and gas giant Atlantic Richfield Company, for routine operations before it crashed.

Medical checkups

The helicopter crashed into the sea on Wednesday morning during a flight from the Foxtrot platform to the BCS platform in the Arjuna offshore field. The helicopter was carrying Asri to the BCS platform to perform medical checkups on ARCO workers there.

The body of Bambang Suharto, an ARCO security guard, was recovered from the crash.

Sidick said Bambang's body was taken by his relatives to Surabaya for burial.

He said the search and rescue team, armed with metal detectors, had discovered parts of the chopper buried in up to 70 centimeters of clay at the bottom of the sea, which is around 50 meters deep around the crash site.

However, the team had yet to find the main body of the helicopter as of Thursday afternoon.

"What we have found so far is debris from the chopper; a doctor's bag and a black bag belonging to Bambang," Chief Sgt. Sucipto of Tanjung Priok's marine police said.

A source at Pertamina said the search and rescue team had hired several shamans to locate the missing persons and the body of the helicopter. (emf/jsk)