2 Land SAR Teams Forest Comb Locations Of Lost Helicopters Contact In South Kalimantan Minister, Existence Still Zero This Afternoon

A total of two Search and Rescue Units (SRU) of the ground SAR Team in heavy rains searched the forest area where the BK117 D3 helicopter type had lost contact around the Mandian Damar Waterfall, Mentewe District, Tanah Bumbu, South Kalimantan (Kalsel).

Head of the Operations and Alert Section of the Banjarmasin SAR Office, Arianto, said that until this afternoon the search was still ongoing in the midst of rainy weather, although the team had difficulties but could still overcome the situation on the ground.

These two SRUs combed into the area where the coordinates that had previously been set for the search area were still nil, there were no physical signs of the helicopter being missing, "he said at Posko 2 Gunung Raya Village, Tanah Bumbu, Tuesday, as reported by Antara.

In fact, said Arianto, the ground team was also assisted by two helicopters, one unit belonging to BNPB RI today carried out operations, while another helicopter was on standby at Syamsudin Noor Airport Banjarbaru.

Two ground SAR SURs involved 80 personnel. As many as 70 people entered the forest, while 10 people were on standby at the post to take care of logistical assistance," he said.

He said the challenge of the ground team at this time was quite heavy rain and quite steep forest conditions. This condition also affects the search process in the expansion of the search area.

The joint ground SAR personnel, he said, consisted of Banjarmasin SAR personnel, 828 Tanah Bumbu Battalion, Syamsudin Noor Banjarbaru Air Base, South Kalimantan Police Mobile Brigade, South Kalimantan Police Samapta, South Kalimantan BPBD, Tanah Bumbu BPBD, and other SAR volunteers elements from the community also joined.

According to standard operating procedures, his party set an emergency response status for seven days starting from missing information on Monday (1 September). "If seven days have not been completed, the search operation is declared complete. It can be extended but the request from the agent," said Arianto.

The type BK117 D3 helicopter belonging to Estindo Air carrying eight passengers including the pilot, lost contact while flying around Mentewe, Tanah Bumbu, South Kalimantan Province on Monday (1/9) at around 08.54 WITA.

The helicopter carried eight people, consisting of a pilot, an engineer, and six passengers, namely Capt. Haryanto, Eng Hendra, Mark Werren, Yudi Febrian, Andys Rissa Pasulu, Santha Kumar, Claudine Quito, and Iboy Irfan Rosa.

The helicopter with a flight route from Kotabaru (South Kalimantan) to Palangka Raya (Central Kalimantan), was previously reported by the Banjarmasin SAR Office, which is estimated to have fallen around the Mandian Damar Waterfall, Mentewe District, Tanah Bumbu Regency.

The helicopter took off from Syamsir Alam Airport, Kotabaru Regency, on Monday, September 1, at around 08.46 WITA with an estimated arrival at Palangka Raya Airport at 10.15 WITA.

However, the last contact was recorded at 08.54 WITA, before the plane could no longer be contacted by AirNav from Kotabaru, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, and Palangka Raya City, and then reports of lost contact received at 12.02 WITA.