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.