Air force officers are deployed to comb the site of missing Aviastar plane. (Photo: Reuters/VNA)Indonesian forces on October 4 expanded the searching scope for missing Aviastar plane from the original 24km radius around its last recorded location.
On October 2, the Aviastar Twin Otter DHC-6 aircraft with ten persons on board – four adults, three children and three crew – lost contact with air traffic control shortly after taking off from Masamba airport in North Luwu en route for South Sulawesi’s capital Makassar.
The plane was 32 kilometres away from Masamba and flying at an altitude of 1,200 metres before it went missing.
According to head of the Indonesian search and rescue agency Bambang Soelistyo nearly 300 personnel have been deployed to the scene and are combing six major areas, which were four previously.
The mountainous and densely forested site with many steep ravines has thus far hindered air and land search efforts, said Soelistyo.
Twin Otter DHC-6 is a Canadian hydroplane designed to land at and take off from short runways. Its last maintenance was on September 15.-VNA
