As many as 700 personnel from the Indonesian army, navy, air force and the police were sent to Rantepau in South Sulawesi province and Mamuju in West Sulawesi province to help search for a passenger plane which went missing a week ago.

The armed personnel were seen off Sunday by the coordinator of the national Search and Rescue Team (SAR) Mission Air Commodore Eddy Suyanto from the Hasanuddin airbase in South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar at 8 a.m. local time, Antara news agency reported.

In the process of searching for the ill-fated plane which went missing on its route from Surabaya (East Java) to Manado (North Slawesi) on Jan. 1, the personnel were divided into three groups sand sent to three different searching locations in South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi.

Eddy said the additional personnel were deployed to intensify the process of searching for the missing aircraft which carried 96 passengers and six crew members.

"Additional three helicopters sent by the government are expected to arrive (in Makassar) today," said Eddy who is also commander of the Hasanuddin airbase in Makassar.

With the helicopters, the search for the missing plane especially in the jungles could be made more accurately, he said.

Source: Xinhua