Operate ARA Ship, South Korea Helps Find Debris From Sriwijaya Air Plane

ARA ship belonging to the Marine Technology Cooperation Research Center (doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The South Korean Embassy to Indonesia has provided a research vessel and underwater detectors to search for the wreckage of the Sriwijaya Air plane. The ship will assist the search process in the waters of the Thousand Islands.

The two equipment is operated by experts from the Korea-Indonesia Marine Technology Cooperation Research Center (MTCRC), which is a research and training center built on the basis of cooperation between the two countries in September 2018.

"The state-of-the-art research vessel (ARA) being operated by MTCRC will be deployed to speed up the process of searching for aircraft fragments at sea," said a written statement from the South Korean Embassy, Monday, January 11.

The South Korean government distributed the aid at an emergency request from the Deputy for Maritime Resources Coordination of the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment Safri Burhanuddin on Saturday, related to the downing of the Sriwijaya Air plane.

The ARA ship is a 12-ton boat shipped to Indonesia by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of South Korea in 2020 to encourage an initial survey cooperation program for the Cirebon coastal area through an overseas development assistance (ODA) scheme worth 5 billion won.

Specially designed to conduct shallow marine research, the ARA ship is expected to assist the search process that is still being carried out.

In addition, MTCRC has dispatched 15 experts including the head of MTCRC Park Hansan to the search location to work with the Indonesian team.

The ARA ship equipped with the detection device is on its way from Cirebon Port, West Java, and is expected to arrive at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, on Monday.

"South Korea, as a partner country that has a Special Strategic Partnership relationship with Indonesia, will proactively cooperate with Indonesia so that the entire search process can take place quickly and safely," the South Korean Embassy said.