Search for helicopter debris continues
Search for helicopter debris continues
JAKARTA (JP): Search for helicopter debris continued off the
Java Sea on Sunday, following the discovery of the last three of
four fatalities of the aircraft chartered by Atlantic Richfield
Company (ARCO) Indonesia which crashed on Wednesday.
An officer from Tanjung Priok's marine police told The Jakarta
Post on Sunday that a team of four skilled divers was deployed to
help ARCO's search and rescue (SAR) team.
"Attempts to find debris from the helicopter are still
underway and we are only assisting the SAR team from the
company," Second Sgt. Noto said, adding that the helicopter's
propeller was recovered at 5:05 p.m. in Sunday's search.
The remaining three fatalities -- state oil and gas company
Pertamina physician attached to ARCO, Asri Basyir, helicopter
loadmaster Atok Makatita and helicopter captain Edward Tampubolon
-- were found on Friday and Saturday.
Kompas daily reported Asri's body was discovered separately
from the helicopter debris at around 4 p.m. on Friday. Three
hours later, the rescue team discovered Atok's body inside the
chopper's cabin.
On Saturday, the body of 46-year-old Edward was found inside
the helicopter's cockpit, still fastened by his seat belt.
Bodies of the helicopter's crewmen and passenger were claimed
by their respective families after postmortem examinations at
Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta.
On Wednesday, the body of Bambang Suharto, an ARCO security
guard, was recovered less than an hour after the crash.
The Bell 206 was chartered by ARCO, a subsidiary of U.S. oil
and gas giant Atlantic Richfield Company, to fly Asri out to
perform routine medical checkups on employees in the field.
At about 10 a.m., the helicopter crashed into the sea during a
flight from the Foxtrot platform to the BCS platform in the
Arjuna offshore field, about 100 kilometers north of Jakarta.
ARCO, the country's largest gas supplier on the domestic
market, has been operating in the country for 30 years. (emf)