TNI searches for 'burning pencil'

TNI searches for 'burning pencil'

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: A team from the Airforce's special
unit Paskhas is searching for a object that crashed last month
into the Southeast Sulawesi jungle, in what was initially thought
to be the debris of a Italian satellite.

The Paskhas team would use a Puma helicopter to comb the
forest around Mount Wani in the regency of Muna, said an official
at the Wolter Mongsidi airbase Barada Tasmadi on Friday.

A ground search by locals and the police has so far been
unable to locate the object.

Muna regent Ridwan said the crash site was in thick forest and
close to the steep mountainside of Wani, making access difficult.

On April 26, locals reported the crash of a burning pencil
shaped object. Officials mistook the falling debris for the
Italian satellite BepooSAX, which fell into the Pacific Ocean on
April 30. -- Antara