- There were eight crew members and three passengers on board.
- A plane was chartered for fisheries surveillance operations.
- Debris found around Mount Bulusaraung in dense fog.
Indonesian authorities said Sunday they had located the wreckage of a fisheries surveillance plane that went missing in South Sulawesi province near a fog-shrouded mountain, but were still searching for the 11 people on board.
The ATR 42-500 turboprop owned by aviation group Indonesia Air Transport lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday around 1:30 p.m. local time (05:30 GMT) in the Maros region of South Sulawesi.
There were eight crew members and three passengers aboard the plane, which was chartered by Indonesia's Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries to conduct aerial surveillance of fisheries. The passengers were members of the ministry's staff.
The head of South Sulawesi's rescue agency, Muhammad Arif Anwar, said on local television that after finding the wreckage, rescuers would deploy 1,200 troops to search for the missing passengers and crew.
“Our priority is to search for victims and we hope there are some that we can evacuate safely,” he said.
The plane was heading to Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi, after taking off from Yogyakarta province, before contact was lost.
On Sunday morning, local rescuers found the remains in different locations around Mount Bulusaraung in the Maros region, said Andi Sultan, an official with the South Sulawesi rescue agency. The mountain is approximately 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) northeast of the sprawling island nation's capital, Jakarta.
“Our helicopter crews spotted the wreckage from the plane window at 7:46 am,” Sultan told reporters.
“And at around 7:49 am, we discovered large parts of the plane, which are suspected to be the fuselage of the plane,” he said, adding that the tail of the plane was also seen at the foot of the mountainside.
Rescuers have been deployed to the locations where the remains were discovered, Sultan said, adding that the search was hampered by thick fog and mountainous terrain.
In a video shared by the rescue agency, a window from the plane was found scattered on the mountain with thick fog and strong wind around it.
Sultan said Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee would lead an investigation into the accident. The cause is still unclear and experts say that most accidents are caused by a combination of factors.
The ATR 42‑500, manufactured by the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR, is a regional turboprop aircraft capable of carrying between 42 and 50 passengers.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said in
