Indonesia plane search: Rescue teams hunt missing ATR aircraft near Makassar

The aircraft was en route to Makassar, in Indonesia's South Sulawesi. Photo / O'Neil Castro, Connect Images via AFP

Indonesian authorities are searching for a plane carrying three government workers and seven crew members after contact with the aircraft was lost, officials said.

The Indonesia Air Transport turboprop plane left from Yogyakarta on Saturday and was headed to the city of Makassar on Sulawesi island, according to rescuers.

Three employees of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries were on board, on a mission to conduct aerial monitoring of resources in the area, minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono told a press conference.

Seven crew members were also on board, according to the airline.

Contact with the plane was lost shortly after 1pm, local time.

Muhammad Arif Anwar, the head of the local search and rescue agency, told AFP teams were deployed to a mountainous area of Maros Regency.

The regency borders Makassar, near the last known location of the plane.

The search on land and by air involved the air force, police and volunteers, Anwar added.

Andi Sultan, operations chief at the Makassar search and rescue agency, said a helicopter and drones were being used to find the plane.

The aircraft manufacturer, France-based firm ATR, said it had been informed of “an accident” involving one of its planes.

“ATR specialists are fully engaged to support both the investigation led by the Indonesian authorities and the operator,” the company said in a statement.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago in Southeast Asia, relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands.

The country has a poor aviation safety record, with several fatal crashes in recent years.

In September last year, a helicopter carrying six passengers and two crew members crashed shortly after taking off from South Kalimantan province, killing everybody on board.

Less than two weeks later, four people were killed when another helicopter crashed in the remote Papua district of Ilaga.

– Agence France-Presse