The Indonesian authorities were, on Saturday January 17 in the afternoon, looking for a small plane carrying ten passengers, with which they lost contact while it was flying over the east of the country, emergency officials announced to Agence France-Presse. The turboprop plane, which belongs to airline Indonesia Air Transport, was heading to Makassar, South Sulawesi, after taking off from Yogyakarta, on the island of Java, with three passengers and seven crew members on board.
During a press conference, Indonesia’s Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, clarified that the passengers were employees of his ministry, on an aerial surveillance mission of the region’s resources.
“Our first thoughts are with those affected by this accident” et “ATR experts are fully involved in collaborating with the Indonesian authorities and the company” Indonesian, he said in a press release.
A helicopter and drones sent to the site
The head of the local search and rescue agency, Muhammad Arif Anwar, said teams had been deployed to a mountainous area in the Maros region, about 42 kilometers from the provincial capital, Makassar, near the plane’s last known position. Ground and air searches involve the air force, police and volunteers, he added.
Andi Sultan, director of operations at the Makassar search and rescue agency, said a helicopter and drones had been sent to the scene to find the plane.
Indonesia, which relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands, has suffered several fatal accidents in recent years. In September 2025, a helicopter carrying six passengers and two crew members crashed shortly after takeoff in South Kalimantan province, leaving no survivors. Less than two weeks later, four people were killed when another helicopter crashed in the remote Ilaga district of Papua province.
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2026/01/17/en-indonesie-un-avion-transportant-dix-personnes-a-disparu-des-radars-dans-l-est-du-pays_6662961_3210.html
