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)