The Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) has joined the search effort for Cita XX, a landing craft tank that went missing in the Papuan waters on July 16.
Head of the Timika Search and Rescue Agency, I Wayan Suyatna, reported on Monday that the TNI-AU had deployed its B-737 surveillance aircraft for the search.
“The surveillance aircraft has arrived in Timika and will commence its mission when the weather condition is good,” Suyatna said in a press statement received in Timika, the Mimika district’s capital, Central Papua.
Cita XX left Timika port on July 15, carrying building materials for the 4G BTS project of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) in Yahukimo district, Highland Papua.
The vessel, with 12 crew members, was scheduled to arrive in Lokpon, Yahukimo, on July 18, but went missing after its last contact with MV Prima Jaya on July 16.
The twelve crew members on board the missing ship were identified as Junaidi (skipper), Dedi Irawan Mualim, M. Arif Efendi, Haikal, Rusli, Agiera, Nimrot, Lukman Hakim, Samsudin, Asmoro, Suherman, and Alhakim, he added.
Suyatna said the SAR agency received a report of the missing ship on July 19 and initiated its search mission on July 20. The Indonesian Navy’s (TNI-AL) naval ship KRI Teluk Lada-512 joined the search mission.
Besides the naval ship, the TNI AL’s Third Fleet Command (Koarmada III) also deployed the Yapero III-11-17 patrol boat for the search.
Koarmada III spokesperson, Colonel R. Doni Kundrat, said the patrol boat was searching the waters from the estuary of Amamapare River in Mimika to Tiga Island in South Papua.
KRI Teluk Lada-512 focused its search on the Mimika waters, while other joint teams of rescuers used inflatable boats to track the missing ship in several estuaries in Agats and Tiga Island.
Earlier, CEO of the Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI) under the Kominfo Ministry, Fadhilah Mathar, said the search mission was underway.
“The BAKTI Kominfo continues to monitor the search efforts and will make utmost efforts to support the mission,” he added.