Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA) – Search teams expanded efforts on August 17 to find four people still missing after the passenger vessel KPM Putri Yasmin caught fire in the Lombok Strait, West Nusa Tenggara, as the operation entered its sixth day.
Muhamad Hariyadi, head of the Mataram Search and Rescue Office and mission coordinator, said an Indonesian Navy aircraft was deployed extensively for aerial reconnaissance.
The sixth-day operation utilized a Cassa NC212-200 aircraft (registration U-6215) from Squadron 600 of Air Wing 2, based at Juanda Naval Air Base, to cover a broader area.
The aircraft departed Juanda Airport in Surabaya on Sunday afternoon, searching waters south of the incident site before landing at Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali.
“On the sixth day, the aircraft took off from Bali on Monday afternoon to expand the search south of Java,” Hariyadi said.
The aerial search covered approximately 3,650 square nautical miles, with personnel from the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office assisting aboard the flight, he added.
Surface and shoreline searches continued in parallel. The maritime team deployed Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) 02 Mataram to search a 38.5-square-nautical-mile area north of Lembar Port.
Meanwhile, ground teams intensified searches along the coast northward from Tanjung Karang while alerting local residents and fishermen about the missing passengers, Hariyadi said.
He emphasized that all search-and-rescue units remain in close coordination to maximize efforts to locate the four missing individuals.
Translator: Nur I, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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