Indonesian officials said on Sunday that several body parts and debris have been recovered in waters where an Indonesian plane carrying police went missing on Saturday.
M28 Skytruck, which was carrying 13 people, lost contact with the air traffic control while it was travelling from Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Belitung province to Batam in the Riau Islands province in western Indonesia. Those 13 people included five crew and eight passengers.
Rescue officials said plane seats and suitcases along with body parts were recovered by fishermen off Riau Islands on Saturday afternoon. This has raised questions over the fate of the flight's passengers and crew.
"We sent three body bags last night, the body parts were not intact... they are now in the Bhayangkara hospital in Batam," Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency told AFP.
According to Soelistyo, the search and rescue efforts would continue for another week.
This is the latest incident of a plane going missing in a series of flight disasters in Indonesia recently. Although, the country has a poor aviation safety record but still the police insisted on Sunday that the plane that went missing was in a good condition. They also added that the pilot was experienced.
Last week, a similar accident occurred when an Indonesian army helicopter crashed on Borneo island killing three crew members. Another cargo plane crashed in Papua region in November leaving four dead.
