US EditionIndonesian plane with 11 people vanishes in mountainous region and a search is underway
- On Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, an ATR 42-500 operated by Indonesia Air Transport lost contact while approaching Makassar, carrying eleven people, prompting a multi-agency search operation.
- Air traffic control said the aircraft deviated from its approach and told the crew to correct alignment before contact was lost, while flight-tracking services showed rapid altitude loss over the ocean limiting radar coverage, and a national investigation is expected.
- Eyewitness video and hikers reported debris and small fires on Mount Bulusaraung, and rescue and air crews later confirmed fuselage fragments, a small aircraft window, the tail, and what is believed to be the engine.
- Heavy fog and winds—visibility about five meters—have forced cautious ground and air movements, while around 400 personnel, including more than 100 Specialized Search and Rescue Units, face steep terrain at Mount Bulusaraung ravine about 200 meters deep.
- ATR said its specialists are engaged to support the investigation, while a national investigation is expected amid concerns over Indonesia's transportation safety record in recent years.
228 Articles
228 Articles
Indonesia finds one body from surveillance plane wreckage; passenger count revised to 10
Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the crash; head of South Sulawesi's rescue agency said priority was to find the victims and 1,200 personnel would be deployed to search for the missing
Since Saturday, 17 January, the authorities have been looking for an aircraft carrying three passengers and seven crew members in Indonesia. The aircraft disappeared while flying over the eastern part of the country after taking off from Yogyakarta on the island of Java.
Indonesia finds wreckage of missing surveillance plane carrying 10, one body
JAKARTA - Indonesian authorities said on Sunday they had located the wreckage of a fisheries surveillance plane that went missing in South Sulawesi province on the slope of a fog-covered mountain and had recovered the body of one of the 10 people on board.
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