Indonesian search and rescue teams confirmed on Sunday the discovery of wreckage from a fisheries surveillance aircraft that vanished during its operational mission in South Sulawesi province. The ATR 42-500 turboprop, chartered by Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, disappeared from radar contact on Saturday afternoon while conducting aerial monitoring of fisheries activities.
The aircraft, operated by Indonesia Air Transport, carried eleven personnel comprising eight crew members and three ministry staff. Search teams located the debris scattered across multiple locations around Mount Bulusaraung in the Maros region, approximately 1,500 kilometers northeast of Jakarta. The challenging mountainous terrain and persistent fog conditions have complicated rescue operations.
Muhammad Arif Anwar, head of South Sulawesi’s rescue agency, announced the deployment of 1,200 personnel to search for survivors. ‘Our priority is to search for the victims, and we hope that there are some that we can evacuate safely,’ he stated during a televised briefing.
Officials reported that rescue helicopters first identified aircraft windows at 7:46 a.m. local time, followed by the discovery of larger fuselage sections and the tail assembly minutes later. The aircraft had been en route to Makassar, provincial capital of South Sulawesi, after departing from Yogyakarta province.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 indicated the aircraft was flying at low altitude over ocean waters before its last signal transmission approximately 20 kilometers northeast of Makassar airport. Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee has assumed leadership of the crash investigation, though preliminary findings suggest weather conditions and mountainous topography may have contributed to the incident.
The ATR 42-500, manufactured by Franco-Italian aerospace consortium ATR, represents a workhorse regional turboprop designed for short to medium-haul operations with typical passenger capacities ranging from 42 to 50 seats.