An Indonesian navy ship searching for a missing commercial
airliner detected a large undersea object off the west coast of
Sulawesi Monday, but it has not been confirmed whether it was the
plane.
The 17-year-old Boeing 737-400 operated by Indonesian budget
carrier Adam Air went missing in bad weather a week ago after its
pilot reported crosswinds and asked for safe coordinates from the
airport in Makassar, Sulawesi island's largest city.
"We suspect that it was a metal object 1,050 meters under the
sea off Mamuju. It could not be confirmed yet whether it was the
Adam Air plane," Tony Syaiful, the spokesman of the navy's Eastern
Fleet, told Jakarta-based Radio Elshinta.
Mamuju is a seaside town in West Sulawesi Province.
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The USNS Mary Sears, a US ship with sonar capability and the
ability to detect metal underwater, will arrive today to join the
search, which already includes at least four ships, two Indonesian
air force planes, two helicopters, and thousands of troops and
police on the ground.
Separately, a military spokesman said Monday two more Indonesian
Air Force helicopters will take part in the search.
The search was focused on the Bone Strait between the two
southern arms of Sulawesi Island and the onshore areas of western
Sulawesi, Captain Mulyadi said in Makassar, from where efforts are
being coordinated.
Indonesian officials will be cautious in announcing any
discovery after erroneously saying the plane had been spotted in
Sulawesi's mountains when accounts from a local village were
relayed to the highest level without checks.
The ill-fated plane heading for North Sulawesi provincial
capital Manado carried 96 passengers and six crew.
The search has been hampered by bad weather, with the area's
jungle-covered mountains also making it difficult to spot objects
from the air.
The region lacks roads and communications are often poor.
In addition to the US ship and an American military plane,
foreign aid has included a Singapore Air Force Fokker-50 search
plane.
"The United States has extended their help. The foreign ministry
will not hesitate in giving permission and clearance for their
efforts in helping us," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda
told reporters in Jakarta Monday.
The pilot made no distress call from the plane, which took off
from Surabaya on Java Island on January 1 for Manado, provincial
capital of North Sulawesi.
The plane disappeared less than three days after a ferry with
more than 600 aboard capsized and sank off Java.
14 survivors found after 9 days
Fourteen survivors of the ferry have been rescued after drifting
on a life raft for nine days, a search and rescue official said
Monday.
At least 248 survivors have been found, some clinging to
wreckage or floating in life vests, and others on life rafts.
The latest survivors were found about 480 kilometers from the
accident site early on Sunday morning, according to Karnoyudho, who
is head of the national search and rescue agency.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for an
investigation into what went wrong in both cases as well as a
general probe into the state of Indonesia's transport system. The
network serves 220 million people in an archipelago of 17,000
islands.
(China Daily via agencies January 9, 2007)
