JAKARTA, 23 July 2002 - Police on the Indonesian island of Borneo say a survivor has been found from last week's crash of a cargo plane in a remote part of the jungle-covered territory. "A man was found by local people on Monday. Villagers confirm he was a survivor of the plane crash," the Associated Press quoted Herman Ismail, chief of police in the town of Tarakan, as saying. Wreckage from the Britten-Norman plane was spotted last Wednesday morning by American missionaries flying above the remote East Kalimantan province. A search mission by a military rescue team from Jakarta and volunteers found no survivors, and it was presumed all eight passengers and two crew had died in the crash.
The survivor, known as Bangau, was bruised and starving after walking for five days through dense jungles before reaching the remote village of Papadi, Ismail said. The man has since been taken to his family town of Long Bawang and he is currently being treated in a local hospital. The plane was on a routine one-hour flight from Tarakan, a town in East Kalimantan, to Krayan when it disappeared last Tuesday. Up to 300 volunteers aided rescue teams in the search for survivors. Air traffic control lost contact with the pilot about 15 minutes before the plane was due to land at Yuvai Semaring airstrip in the west of the province.
The British-made plane, also known as the Islander, is a twin-prop light transport aircraft widely used in Indonesia's more remote areas. According to press reports it is considered highly reliable and has been exported widely to several developing nations for use as both a passenger and cargo transporter.
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