By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Indonesia’s search and rescue agency has concluded operations involving a plane that crashed in the mountains of eastern Papua, following the recovery of the 54 victims on board and the black box.
Henry Bambang Soelistyo, the agency’s chief, confirmed to Anadolu Agency on Friday that efforts had ended after the discovery Thursday of the flight data recorder that had been missing since the plane crashed last weekend.
"During the five days of operation, everyone worked professionally. Thanks to all team members," Soelistyo said.
He added that Disaster Victim Identification teams had begun to identify the recovered bodies.
As of early Friday, seven victims -- including a flight attendant and a postal worker who had been transporting around 6.5 billion rupiah ($470,000) to be distributed to the poor in the region -- had been identified, Detik.com reported.
Tatang Kurniadi, National Committee on the Safety of Transport chief, told Anadolu Agency that they would prepare a preliminary report on the contents of the black box before submitting the recorders to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The report, however, will take between six months and one year to complete.
Benny Sumaryanto, Trigana Air Service director of operations, told Anadolu Agency that the legal heirs of each passenger would receive compensation worth 1.25 billion rupiah (almost $89,700).
"The compensation will be given for all passengers on board, including the crew," he said.
The flight crashed Sunday around 7 miles from an airport in Oksibil -- a remote settlement near the border with Papua New Guinea.
Ground rescuers had traipsed through thick vegetation in the Bintang Mountains Regency for recovery operations at the spot, which is at an altitude of around 2,529 meters (8,300 feet).
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Indonesian postal service said Friday that of the 6.5 rupiah billion being transported on the flight, only 5.8 billion rupiah had been recovered by search teams.
Abu Sofyan -- who like many Indonesians uses only one name -- was quoted by Detik.com as saying that the missing cash was likely burnt, and adding that "surely no funds have been lost as it was all insured."
