Victims of AMA plane crash evacuated
Victims of AMA plane crash evacuated
R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
The wreckage of the ill-fated Cessna light aircraft that crashed
into a hillside in Wanggar subdistrict, Nabire regency, Irian
Jaya, was found on Wednesday.
All of the dead and the injured victims have now been
evacuated to Nabire and Timika.
Santos da Silva, an staff member of the Association of Mission
Aviation (AMA), which owned the plane, said in Sentani on
Wednesday that the 185-PK RCW aircraft's wreckage was discovered
on a hillside near Arrado village, some 75 kilometers south of
Nabire.
He said the bodies of the four victims who were killed in the
crash were evacuated to Nabire while Chandra Suyono, who suffered
a fractured leg and other injuries, was evacuated to Timika for
intensive medical treatment.
"The evacuation was carried out by a rescue team from the AMA
and the Nabire authorities using two Cessna aircraft. The remains
of the dead, all from Nabire, will be handed over to their
relatives while the injured victim has been brought to Timika for
medical treatment," he said.
Chandra is the president of timber company PT Unindo Darma
Sakti, which chartered the plane.
He said the deceased were pilot Maurits P.S., Mr. Law,
Unindo's operations manager, Podo, an employee of state-owned
airline Merpati Nusantara and Hermanus Ayomi.
Da Silva said the chartered plane crashed around one hour
after taking off from Nabire airport at 12:30 p.m. local time on
Sunday to conduct aerial photography of forests in Wanggar
subdistrict.
"The plane, which was flying low to enable the photographs to
be taken, stalled and lost power as it was trying to climb
higher, and then crashed into a hill," he said, adding that the
pilot was still in radio contact with Nabire airport and AMA
headquarters at Sentani airport minutes before the crash.
Da Silva said that the two planes deployed an hour after the
crash detected the crash site but could not land in the
subdistrict due to inclement weather.
"The evacuation of the victims was able to be carried out
today because of the good weather this morning," he added.