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Body Found at Scene of Papua Air Crash
Putri Prameshwari | November 05, 2009

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The body of at least one of four people killed when a plane belonging to National Police crashed in a mountainous area in Papua has been recovered from the scene and flown out, a rescue team official said on Thursday.

“One body bag has been sent to Bhayangkara Hospital in Sentani,” Suyatno, chief of the search and rescue team in Papua said, adding that the body would be identified before being taken to Jakarta.

He said the bodies of the three other victims were still on the ground and that efforts to evacuate them would be conducted today using a Kamov helicopter.

Suyatno could not be reached again later to confirm a report by the Antara news agency that the remaining bodies had been taken to a nearby search and rescue post.

The MD 28 SkyTruck Cassa aircraft had four crew on board and was carrying eight drums of fuel when it crashed on Mount Dorman on Monday. It was on its way from Sentani Airport, in Papua’s provincial capital Jayapura, to Puncak Jaya.

The plane was captained by Yunus, who was accompanied by co-pilot Benedictus and two engineers, Kuswanto and Syaiful.The National Police currently operates several light aircraft and helicopters, including four PZL M28 Skytrucks, a Bizjet 400SP, a Casa NC-212/200, Beechcraft 18CH and a Fokker F50.

Evacuation has proven difficult. The wreckage of the twin-propeller plane was located by a search and rescue team on Wednesday but, Suyatno said, Thursday’s evacuation had to be stopped due to thick fog. Papua’s frequent air accidents are often due to mountainous topography and the vagaries of the weather.

In August, a Merpati Airlines Twin Otter plane crashed into a mountain in Oksibil, near the border of Papua New Guinea, killing all 15 onboard.