Search for chopper interrupted

Search for chopper interrupted

PURWAKARTA, West Java: Bad weather halted on Saturday the
Search and Rescue team's efforts to locate the missing N-Bell 412
helicopter, with three people onboard, in the mountainous area of
Burangrang.

The SAR team helped by hundreds of locals, volunteers and boy
scouts had to stop the operation before 2 p.m. due to heavy rain
and thick fog.

Combing of the Burangrang area would continue on Sunday
morning, Purwakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Nana Soekarna was
quoted by Antara as saying.

The helicopter belonging to the Ministry of Forestry and
Plantations left Semarang for Bandung's Husein Sastranegara
airport on Thursday. It stopped over at Kalijati airport in
Subang for refuelling at about 2 p.m. (on Thursday), while the
Bandung airport lost contact with the helicopter about 45 minutes
later.

The search was focused on the village of Cihanjawar in
Purwakarta regency following reports from villagers who noticed a
helicopter flying low before disappearing on the rainy Thursday
afternoon.

Later before the operation stopped, the rescuers found
an object believed to be part of a helicopter canopy in the area
of Curug Taraje, close to the top of Burangrang Mountain. The
rescuers also smelled something resembling helicopter fuel and
decaying corpse.

Hadi Tugiman, a Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency official had
earlier assumed that the helicopter had no automatic location
transmitter, making it more difficult for rescuers to locate it.

The helicopter made by the then Industri Pesawat Terbang
Nusantara (IPTN) -- now PT Dirgantara Indonesia -- was piloted by
Capt. Bobby. The copilot was Sucahyo Wahyu and the mechanic was
Hendri Jatmiko.

The missing N-Bell 412 helicopter was one of 24 of its type
produced by PT DI, the company Public Relations manager Rakhendi
said. The helicopters, costing US$4.5 million each, have been
used by the Indonesian Air Force, the Army, OPT Freeport
Indonesia, and the charter firm PT Gatari. (25/sur)