JAKARTA, Dec. 3 (UPI) — An Indonesian police aircraft carrying at least 12 people crashed into the sea off Batam Saturday after losing contact with air traffic.
Fisherman discovered the wreckage of the twin-engine M-28 Skytruck around 11:30 a.m. local time, according to the Straits Times.
The plane was carrying police officers and aircraft maintenance crew, among others. There was no report of survivors.
“Before it plunged, a loud explosion was heard by local residents on the ground,” Tanjung Pinang Naval Base commander First Admiral S. Irawan said.
The aircraft left Pankal Pinang in Singapore at 10:24 a.m., but lost contact with Singapore air traffic control at 11:22 a.m. in the middle of a one and a half hour flight to Batam scheduled to arrive at 11:58 a.m., Channel News Asia reported.
Search and rescue operations were activated by Singapore and the Indonesian navy deployed three ships and two patrol boats to conduct a recovery operation.
“With clearance from the Indonesian authorities, a SuperPuma helicopter and a Fokker 50 are currently on-scene supporting the Indonesians to locate the aircraft,” the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said Saturday. “Two ships are awaiting clearance by the Indonesian authorities to assist in the search and rescue efforts.”
