Search for missing Cessna continues near Mt. Ciremai

Search for missing Cessna continues near Mt. Ciremai

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

The search continued on Friday for a light plane that has been
missing since Thursday and is feared to have crashed in a
mountainous area near the West Java town of Kuningan.

The Cessna training aircraft was traveling from Ahmad Yani
Airport in the Central Java capital of Semarang to Jakarta's
Halim Perdanakusuma air base on Thursday morning with three
people aboard.

Officials said the plane, operated by Deraya Flying School in
Jakarta, might have crashed near Mount Ciremai in Kuningan due to
poor weather conditions.

A rescue team from the school and local security forces
launched the search for the missing plane on Thursday, involving
at least two Cessna planes and one police helicopter.

Dadang Ekasmana, head of Penggung Airport in the West Java
city of Cirebon, said the Cessna 172 left Semarang at around
10:47 a.m. and should have arrived in Jakarta at around 12:50
p.m.

But at 11:40 a.m., airport authorities in Halim Perdanakusuma
lost contact with the plane carrying a flying instructor, Berti
Franki Nongsiana, 35, and two students, Gagak E. Kandrian, 25,
and Arwin, 25, Dadang added.

"Up to now, we cannot determine whether the plane crashed or
made an emergency landing," he said on Friday.

"Penggung Airport is not equipped with radar to monitor the
movement of the plane over Cirebon's territory and surrounding
areas. So, we could not locate its last position before it lost
contact," Dadang added.

He said the suspicion that the Cessna might have crashed
followed a tipoff from a villager living on the slopes of Mount
Ciremai, who saw a small plane flying low at midday on Thursday.

"However, the rescue team had not found the plane by Friday
evening after combing the mountain," Dadang added.

Kuningan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hasanuddin said his
personnel were gathering information from villagers living near
Mount Ciremai to determine the site of the possible crash.

"I have ordered several of my subordinates to climb the
mountain to locate where it might have crashed. But until now the
search has been fruitless," he said.

Hasanuddin said that visibility was poor at midday on
Thursday, pointing to the likelihood that the Cessna slammed into
the mountain.

"For the last three days, the weather has not been friendly
with cloud blanketing areas surrounding Mount Ciremai. We have
strong suspicions that the aircraft crashed due to poor weather,"
he added.

Dadang further said the plane could have crashed somewhere
along its air route passing through Brebes in Central Java, and
Cirebon, Indramayu and Purwakarta in West Java.

Purwakarta Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bambang Sri Hermanto
said he deployed a team of officers to Mount Burangrang to help
find the missing plane.

The team enlisted the help of local villagers to collect
information about a possible crash, he was quoted by Antara as
saying.