JOIN USRugged, forested terrain and bad weather have prevented rescuers from reaching the crash site by foot, said Sunarbowo Sandi, head of the local search-and-rescue team, after carrying out 100-meter-high aerial surveys.
"We may have to rappel down" to the wreckage, he said. The Spanish-designed CASA C-212 lost contact with air traffic control early yesterday while flying from North Sumatra to Aceh province. Minutes later, it sent out a distress signal, then dropped off the radar.
A helicopter spotted the wreckage on a 60-degree slope in the Bahorok region at an altitude of 5,000 feet. Though the plane's nose and cockpit were badly damaged, the fuselage and wings were intact, said Robur Rizallianto, a safety manager with the airline, PT Nusantara Buana Air.
"One of its doors is open," he said, holding out hope that it could mean some of the 14 passengers and four crew on board were alive. Four of the passengers were children.
Footage on MetroTV showed family members of the crash victims waiting at the airport in Medan, from where the plane departed, in hysterics. They demanded clear information about the fate of their loved ones, accusing the airline and rescue teams of taking far too long.
"The conditions are really bad," Sandi, the search-and-rescue official, insisted, adding that tornado-like winds and heavy fog were hampering efforts to reach the crash scene. He said he hoped air force elite troops could repel down from a helicopter and build a landing pad.