Missing Indonesian jetliner 'did not send out distress signals'

A plane missing over Indonesia with 102 people on board did not send out distress signals or report mechanical problems before disappearing, a top aviation official said today, as search teams intensified their hunt for the Boeing 737.

A Singaporean Air force plane joined the massive air, land and sea search over Sulawesi Island, which got off to a bad start when authorities wrongly stated on Tuesday that the plane’s wreckage had been found and 12 people survived.

Iksan Tatang, the director general of air transportation, said the missing plane reported winds as high as 74 knots before losing contact with the ground on Monday midway through its flight from Indonesia’s main island of Java to Manado on Sulawesi Island.

Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said it was too soon to say what may have caused the crash.

“I urge people not to speculate. We must wait until the National Commission for Transportation Safety has located the ill-fated plane,” he said.

A fleet of aircraft took to the skies, ships scoured the sea and soldiers battled rugged jungle terrain for the third day today in the search for the plane, but by late afternoon local time had seen no sign of it.