13 feared dead after Indonesian police plane loses contact

Thirteen people are feared dead after an Indonesian police plane lost contact during a flight on Saturday to the island of Batam near Singapore.
It went missing on a short domestic flight and is feared crashed, police said, the latest blow to the country’s aviation sector.
The M28 Skytruck twin-engine plane lost contact with air traffic control during what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour flight in western Indonesia.
“Fishermen found clothes, suitcases and air plane seats we fear belong to the plane,” national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told AFP.
The plane, carrying five crew members and eight passengers, dropped out of contact midmorning about 50 minutes after taking off from Bangka island, a police statement said.
National Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said rescuers were searching waters between Mensanak and Sebangka islands.
An earlier police statement said the plane had set off at 9:24 a.m. but that air traffic control lost contact with the plane at 10:15 a.m.
It was carrying five crew and eight passengers.
Indonesia’s search and rescue team have been deployed and Singapore said it was also helping as the incident happened close to the city-state.
Indonesia has a poor aviation safety record and has experienced several air disasters recently.
Last week, an Indonesian army helicopter crashed on Borneo island leaving three crew dead, while in November a cargo plane crashed in Papua region killing four.
A search team recovered items apparently identified as being from the missing aircraft, including seats, luggage and documents, the report said, noting that according to the manifest there were 15 people on board.
According to Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), items belonging to passengers had also been found.
“We found debris,” BASARNAS chief Soelistyo told Reuters, adding his team were searching in a 200 square nautical mile area.

Source: Arab News