The search is still underway in Indonesia for a missing DHC-6 Twin Otter operated by Aviastar, a domestic airline. There were unverified reports Sunday that wreckage had been spotted. There were three crew members and 10 passengers on board, according to the Jakarta Post. The aircraft departed from the Andi Djemma Airport in Masamba at 2.25 p.m. for Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, a little more than an hour away. Communication with the flight was lost 11 minutes after departing, the newspaper reported.
Aviastar has had four previous crashes in 2008 and 2009, three involving fatalities, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The airline is on the list of those banned by the European Union. Indonesian airlines have suffered from safety concerns with three crashes in the last year. Among them is the AirAsia Airbus that crashed en route to Singapore in December, killing 162 people. In June, a C-130 military transport flight crashed in Sumatra and a Trigana Air Service ATR42 crashed in Papua in August, killing all 54 people on board.
