Indonesia’s military and civilian teams continued searching waters and beaches along the south-west coast of Sulawesi Island on Friday for more debris and victims from the commercial jetliner that disappeared on New Year’s Day. The search, being conducted round-the-clock, is mainly concentrated on a 200-kilometre area in South Sulawesi province, from the villages of Mamuju and Majene down to the port town of Pare-Pare and outward into the Makassar Strait. The aircraft disappeared on January 1, 2007, after battling strong winds and twice changing course during a flight from Surabaya in Central Java to Manado in northern Sulawesi. A massive search operation covering air, land and has been under way ever since the plane vanished, with many countries offering help with the search. Bad weather and false leads have hampered the hunt. Indonesian government officials even had to apologise soon after the plane’s disappearance for having wrongly stating that the wreckage had been found. After 11 days of continuous search, teams had on Thursday come across debris after a fisherman caught a piece of the missing aircraft’s tail in his fishing net, 30 metres off a beach in Pare-Pare. The piece of tail had a serial number matching the missing Adam Air plane. Later reports said a life vest and parts of airline seats had also been found. The news was greeted with relief by relatives who were desperate for news of their dear ones on the plane. In all, 14 ships of the Indonesian Navy and a US Navy vessel equipped with sophisticated sonar equipment were scouring the south-east side of the Makassar Strait. Simultaneously, search teams were combing beaches in the Pare-Pare area. At least one spotter plane is also involved in the search. The ill-fated Flight KI-574, a Boeing 737 of budget airliner Adam Air, was carrying 96 passengers – including three US citizens – and a crew of six when it disappeared from radar during a scheduled flight from Surabaya, capital of East Java province, to Manado, capital of North Sulawesi province. Officials say they could not confirm whether the aircraft exploded in mid-air or crashed into the sea. |
