Indonesia: Police aircraft carrying 16 crashes off Batam island

A police aircraft carrying 16 people on board went missing in Indonesia on Saturday. Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) has confirmed to Reuters that the plane had crashed, and even belongings of some of the passengers had been found.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), however, noted in a statement that there were 12 people on board. Contact was lost with the plane — described as an M-28 Skytruck — while it was near Batam, a small island in Indonesia's Riau Archipelago in the South China Sea. CAAS said the plane had "lost contact with Singapore air traffic control in the Singapore Flight Information Region at 11.22 am Singapore time."

Reuters quoted a police report as saying that the plane "is thought to have crashed between the islands of Mensanak and Sebangka or Gentar." The CAAS statement added: "The aircraft departed Pankal Pinang at 10:24 am Singapore time and was expected to arrive in Batam at 11:58 am Singapore time. Its last known radar position was about 40 nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Pinang."

Search operations underway

The Reuters report quoted BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelistyo as saying that it was "too soon to assume" that none aboard the plane had survived the crash, but no remains of those aboard had been found. He also said that the agency was scouring a 200-nautical-mile area in search of survivors.

"Search and rescue operations from Singapore have been activated by the Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre, which is managed by CAAS and supported by various agencies," CAAS said in the statement.

"With clearance from the Indonesian authorities, one SuperPuma helicopter and one Fokker 50 are currently on-scene supporting the Indonesians to locate the aircraft. Two ships are awaiting clearance by the Indonesian authorities to assist in the search and rescue efforts. The CAAS Crisis Management Centre has also been activated," it added.

The exact reason behind the crash has not been pinpointed.