JAKARTA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian military helicopter had lost contact during its flight from Oksibil to Jayapura, both in Papua province, while efforts to locate the missing helicopter with 12 people onboard are underway, a spokesman of the Indonesia military command headquarters in Papua said on Friday.
Papua's Cendrawasih Military Command Headquarters Spokesman M. Aidi said that the last contact with the helicopter was at 11:49 a.m. Eastern Indonesian Time (WIT) when the helicopter was at 6 nautical mile heading north at a height of 7,800 feet.
The army's Mi-17 helicopter, carried seven crew members and five military personnel, was on its mission to deliver supplies to a border area in Okbibab district in Papua's Jaya Wijaya regency, Aidi said.
The helicopter departed from higher ground of Oksibil at 11:44 a.m WIT, supposed to land in Jayapura's Sentani at 13:11 p.m. WIT, he added.
"We are yet to get the exact location of the helicopter so far. Search efforts are underway at present, coordinated with Papua search and rescue agency. We also engaged our personnel around the area to find information on the helicopter's whereabouts," he said.
The weather was reported at a good condition with visibility of 6-7 km during the helicopter's airborne time. The national meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG), however, said that extreme weather potentially occurred in several spots between Oksibil and Sentani airport during the flight time.
