by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
JAKARTA (Worthy News) – Indonesian rescuers have found the bodies of all 10 passengers from a fishery surveillance plane that crashed in the country’s South Sulawesi province over the weekend, officials confirmed Friday.
An ATR 42-500 turboprop owned by Indonesia Air Transport (IAT) lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday at about 1:30 p.m. local time while flying near the Maros region in South Sulawesi, the nation’s national search and rescue agency said.
There were seven crew members and three passengers on board — all ministry staff — on a flight chartered by Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to conduct air surveillance.
Andi Sultan of South Sulawesi’s rescue agency said rescuers located the ninth and tenth bodies early Friday, and the evacuation of remains was ongoing.
WRECKAGE FOUND NEAR MOUNTAINS
Local teams had previously discovered scattered wreckage of the aircraft around Mount Bulusaraung in the Maros region, northeast of the capital Jakarta, search officials said.
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) is investigating the aircraft’s black box, which was recovered earlier this week and will be analysed to determine the cause of the crash.
The ATR 42-500 was chartered for a maritime surveillance mission from Yogyakarta to Makassar when it went missing.
Authorities say it was the first deadly crash involving this aircraft type in Indonesia in more than a decade.
SAFETY RECORD AND AVIATION CONTEXT
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, has a long history of transportation accidents due to the country’s reliance on air and sea links across its thousands of islands.
The European Union previously maintained an airline safety blacklist for Indonesian carriers, though all Indonesian airlines were removed from it after improvements in safety oversight.
Experts say the crash highlights ongoing concerns about aviation safety and infrastructure in the region, even as authorities stress they are working to meet international standards.
The tragedy comes as Indonesia continues to cope with severe flooding in Jakarta and other areas, with reports of fatalities and widespread damage from recent downpours.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Presidents of Christian colleges and seminaries are raising concerns over a provision tucked inside President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” warning it could severely impact students preparing for ministry and religious vocations.
Satellite imagery appears to show a massive oil slick spreading off the coast of Iran’s strategically vital Kharg Island, raising fresh concerns over environmental damage and growing instability in the Persian Gulf amid ongoing regional tensions.
The Trump administration on Friday released the first batch of formerly classified government documents, videos, and photographs related to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), opening decades of mysterious military and government reports to public scrutiny.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a three-day ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange, marking the latest diplomatic breakthrough in the more than four-year war that has devastated both nations and reshaped global geopolitics.
Indonesia was dealing with the aftermath of several deadly natural disasters Saturday, with authorities saying at least three hikers were killed in a volcanic eruption and three others died after torrential rain triggered a landslide earlier this week.
Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday he is ready to face justice if prosecuted over alleged corruption accusations and defended his record as Hungary’s longest-serving government leader in recent history.
Three Greek Catholic parishes can no longer continue operating legally in autocratically ruled Belarus after their mandatory applications for “re-registration” were rejected by a regional court, well-informed Christians told Worthy News.