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