Evacuation Of Helicopter Victims Falling In The Papua Mountains Tomorrow Morning

Screenshots - Head of Basarnas Mohammad Syafii (central) accompanied by Deputy for Operations and Preparedness of Basarnas Edy Prakoso and Director of Preparedness Noer/ANTARA/M Riezko Bima Elko Prasetyo

Head of Basarnas Mohammad Syafii said the PK-IWS AS350-B3 helicopter belonging to PT Intan Angkasa (IA) which crashed in the mountains of Papua was carrying out a logistics transportation mission to remote areas.

Mohammad Syafii said the PK-IWS helicopter flew from Ilaga to Timika at around 11.30 WIT, five to ten minutes after the PK-IWD helicopter with the same route.

"The two helicopters had communicated, but bad weather with strong winds, rain, and thick clouds made communication cut off," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, September 10.

Basarnas confirmed that the PK-IWD helicopter managed to land in Timika.

Meanwhile, PK-IWS lost contact around coordinates 4 deg.6'1.67" S - 137 deg 39'44.73" E or about 7.8 nautical miles from Ilaga Airport at an altitude of 11,000 feet.

When returning to Ilaga, he said, the PK-IWD helicopter searched and found the position of PK-IWS falling on a mountain slope at an altitude of about 3,695 meters above sea level.

Basarnas together with a joint SAR team consisting of the TNI, Polri, AirNav, airport authorities, and related elements have opened a post at Moses Kilangin Timika Airport.

However, Syafii said the evacuation could not be carried out due to unfavorable weather conditions. The PK IWS helicopters that lost contact were reportedly carrying four of their people, namely EP (Pilot), HR (HLO) and two passengers with the initials AN and ZUL.

"The evacuation is planned to be carried out tomorrow morning starting at 05.30 WIT with the support of helicopters belonging to PT Intan Angkasa and the Indonesian Air Force. We are coordinating with the BMKG for tomorrow's weather forecast," he said.