Singapore & US help in search for Adam Air plane

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi (AP): Indonesia stepped up efforts Sunday to locate a jetliner that disappeared with 102 people on board nearly a week ago, adding hundreds of soldiers and six helicopters to the search and rescue mission.

Nearly 3,000 soldiers, police and civilians have been battling the dense jungles in search of wreckage, and sonar-equipped ships and an air fleet have been scouring surrounding seas, but so far they have found no trace of AdamAir’s Boeing 737-400.

Nearly 700 fresh troops were deployed Sunday to several areas along Sulawesi’s western coast, said military spokesman Capt. Mulyadi.

The pilot of AdamAir flight KI-574 said he was encountering 130 kph winds near Sulawesi island’s coastal town of Majene and then disappeared from the radar Monday, but did not issue a mayday or report any technical problems.

“It’s impossible that it just disappeared,” Vice President Jusuf Kalla said after meeting with search officials and families of the passengers, who urged him to do more. “Even if it takes a month … we have to keep searching.”

Four helicopters were added to the air fleet with two more coming on Monday, said Bambang Karnoyudho, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

The Adam Air plane left Indonesia’s main island of Java for the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado on Monday afternoon but had to twice change its flight path because of severe winds and storms, said Eddy Suyanto, head of the search and rescue mission.

It lost contact over the coastal town of Majene, halfway into the two-hour trip, and there has been no emergency location signal to guide the rescue effort.

Kalla said he welcomed international assistance in the investigation of the apparent crash.

Singapore has been helping carry out aerial surveys and a U.S. National Transportation Safety Board team arrived, along with representatives from Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration and General Electric.

The U.S. Navy’s USNS Mary Sears Oceanographic survey ship would join the search on Monday, U.S. Embassy official Shannon Quinn said.

Three Americans, a man from Oregon and his two daughters, were among the plane’s 96 passengers.

A day after the plane disappeared, authorities wrongly said they found the jet’s charred wreckage and that there were 12 survivors, causing anguish among family members, many of whom have been camped out at nearby airports and hotels.

Several were invited to fly on Indonesia’s surveillance aircraft Sunday to get a first hand look at the search and rescue operations.

“I saw only dense jungles, deep ravine and steep mountains,” said Fani Duran, whose sister was on the missing Adam Air plane with her 18-month-old son. “How are we ever going to find that plane under these conditions … I’m pessimistic.”

Some attended church Sunday, praying that they would receive news soon.

“We hope that the search will continue until they are found,” said Samuel Batubara. “We pray that our families can be found in any condition.”