Navy searches seabed for crash jet

The US Navy will scour Indonesia’s western coast today for the wreckage of a Boeing 737 jet that disappeared in a storm more than a week ago with 102 passengers on board.

The USNS Mary Sears will use ocean floor mapping technology to determine if metal detected at three coastal locations, at a depth of 5,000 feet to 6,500 feet in the Marassar Strait, could be Adam Air flight KI574.

“If that metal turns out to be what we are looking for, then thanks be to God,” said Gatot Sudijanto, a navy spokesman.

Commodore Eddy Suyanto, head of the search-and-rescue effort, said planes and helicopters would continue to hunt by air, along with thousands of army and police officers combing the northern island’s dense jungle interior on foot.

The plane left Java island for the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado on New Year’s Day, but experienced 80mph winds and storms halfway through the two-hour flight, twice forcing it to change course.

The pilot did not issue a mayday or report technical problems before the plane dropped off the radar over the western coastal town of Majene.

With no emergency location signal to guide search efforts, more than 3,600 soldiers, police and volunteers have fanned out over a 30,000-square-mile swathe of Sulawesi.

Indonesia said it welcomed all international assistance in the search.

Singapore has been providing aerial surveys and a US National Transportation Safety Board team arrived on Friday, along with representatives from Boeing, the US Federal Aviation Administration and General Electric, to help investigate.

Authorities were also viewing satellite imagery of the island in the US, said US Embassy spokeswoman Shannon Quinn.

Three Americans, a man from Oregon and his two daughters, were among the plane’s 96 passengers. It was not clear if any other foreigners were on board.

A day after the plane disappeared, authorities wrongly said they found the jet’s charred wreckage and that there were 12 survivors, causing anguish for family members.

Adam Air is one of about 30 budget carriers that sprang up in Indonesia after the industry was deregulated in 1998. The rapid expansion has led to cheap flights throughout Indonesia, but has raised concerns about maintenance of the leased planes.