The Indonesian Navy’s (TNI-AL’s) Third Fleet Command (Koarmada III) has deployed a naval ship and a patrol boat to assist in the search mission for the Cita XX landing craft tank.
Contact with the landing craft tank has been lost since July 16, 2024.
The vessel went missing in the Papuan waters while transporting building materials for a 4G base transceiver station (BTS) project in Yahukimo district, Highland Papua, a TNI-AL spokesperson said.
Naval ship KRI Teluk Lada-521 and the Yapero III-11-17 patrol boat have been deployed to join the search effort, Koarmada III spokesperson, Colonel R. Doni Kundrat, said on Monday (July 22).
The patrol boat is focusing its search from the waters of the estuary of Amamapare River in Mimika district, Central Papua, to Tiga Island in Asmat district, South Papua, he told ANTARA.
Meanwhile, KRI Teluk Lada-521 is focusing its search on the Mimika waters, and other joint teams of rescuers are using inflatable boats to track the missing ship in several estuaries in Agats and Tiga Island, he said.
The Cita XX left Timika port in Mimika district, Central Papua, on July 15 with building materials for the Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) Ministry’s 4G BTS project in Yahukimo district, he informed.
The vessel, which had 12 crew members on board, was scheduled to arrive in Yahukimo on July 18 but it has been reported missing since its last contact, received by MV Prima Jaya, on July 16, he added.
President director of the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) under the Kominfo Ministry, Fadhilah Mathar, said earlier that the search mission is underway.
“The BAKTI Kominfo continues to monitor the search efforts and will make utmost efforts to support the mission,” he added.