After two full days searching on land and air, a small passenger plane which lost contact with air traffic control in Sulawesi, Indonesia has still not been located.
A 250-strong search and rescue team has been scouring mountainous terrain for the Aviastar Twin Otter DHC-6 aircraft without success, hampered by thick fog on Sunday, rescue agency Bambang Soelistyo said.
The plane lost contact shortly after taking off from Masamba airport in North Luwu en route for the city of Makassar.
The plane was carrying just 10 passengers and crew.
"The search area is mountainous and densely forested with many steep ravines. The clouds today were also thick. We ended the search today without a favourable result. The plane has not been located," Soelistyo said
"We will resume our search tomorrow, focusing our efforts at sea. Usually by the third day, if the plane crashed at sea, debris could be found floating," he added.
The plane was operated by small regional airline Aviastar Mandiri.
It is another hammer blow to Indonesia’s worsening aviation safety record which has seen several fatal accidents this year.
The latest occurred just weeks ago when a jet crashed on a remote mountain in Oksibil, Papua killing all 54 people on board.
