Indonesia police plane goes missing, 15 feared dead

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) - Fifteen people are feared dead after an Indonesian police plane lost contact Saturday over the waters of the Riau Islands.

National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told Anadolu Agency in a statement that the aircraft was carrying seven crew members and eight passengers when it went missing.

"According to the manifest, total crew and passengers are 15 people," he said, adding that the plane’s last coordinates were located around the waters of Lingga island to the west of Sumatra.

He acknowledged the possibility that the aircraft could have gone down in the area, especially since some items -- such as a plane seat, documents and passenger bags -- were sighted.

The plane lost contact around halfway through its voyage from Bangka island to Batam in Riau Islands in the morning.

Search efforts for the plane are ongoing.

Indonesia has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered major disasters over the two years, many of them involving air force aircraft.

In July, three people were killed and three others injured when a military helicopter crashed in the island of Java, damaging two houses near the city of Yogyakarta.

In February, four people died when a military plane crashed into a house in East Java province.

The following month, a military helicopter went down during an operation in troubled Poso town in Sulawesi island, killing 13 personnel.