Makassar, South Sulawesi (ANTARA Sulsel) - The joint Search and Rescue team has recovered the bodies of all 10 victims who died in the Aviastar plane crash in South Sulawesi recently and has evacuated these to the command post.
"All the bodies have been evacuated from where they were discovered. These were brought on stretchers to the village of Gamaru where the second command post is located and then taken to the first command post in the village of Ulu Salu in SPM Rante field," Operations Director of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Ivan Ahmad Rizki Titus, said.
He said four helicopters that carried the bodies would transit through the Sidrap district for refueling before leaving for the Sultan Hasanuddin airbase in Maros, South Sulawesi.
"The team brought the bodies in bags to Salu village and from there, these would be taken to the Hasanuddin airbase two hours away," he said.
All the bodies are expected to arrive at the Hasanuddin air base by 18.30 pm, he added.
The resort police chief of Luwu, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Adex Yudiswan, confirmed that the crashed Twin Otter plane had been heavily damaged and had burn marks while the bodies of the victims had started to swell.
"It is believed that the plane flew off its flight route and lost contact before hitting the Pajaja mountain," he said.
The MV 7503 flight was being piloted by Captain Iri Afriadi with Yudhistira as co-pilot and Sukris as the mechanic when it lost contact while flying from Masamba to Makassar.
The plane carried seven passengers identified as Nurul Fatimah, Lisa Falentin, Riza Arman, Sakhi Arqam, M Natsir, Afif and Raya Adawiah.