The Jakarta Post, January 06, 2007
Psychics consulted in search for plane
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar
Searchers slaughtered a buffalo in a traditional cerem! ony and consulted psychics
Friday, the fourth day after an Adam Air jetliner went missing over Sulawesi.
Meanwhile, thousands of soldiers and police continued a massive search over land
and water on the southern part of the island for the missing aircraft.
Bad weather continued to hamper the operation and as of late Friday there were still
no signs of the Adam Air Boeing 737-400 or any of its 102 passengers.
"None of our search efforts on land, sea and air have yielded results," said the
commander of the Hasanuddin Air Base in Makassar, Commodore Eddy Suyanto,
adding the operation would continue Saturday.
Flight KI-574 vanished from radar screens an hour after departing from Surabaya on
Monday afternoon for Manado. Reports said the pilot had reported heavy winds just
before all contact with the aircraft was lost.
In Jakarta protesters grouped in the Solidarity for Transport Victims group called for
the resignation of Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa. Demonstrating in front of his
office, they demanded he be held accountable for other accidents including the
sinking of the Senopati Nusantara ferry last Friday off the north coast of Java. At least
400 passengers are still missing from the ferry, but rescuers expressed optimism of
finding more survivors after locating another 15 passengers Thursday.
A relative of five people on board the A! dam Air flight said Hatta should be put into
police custody. "Just arrest him. I don't need compensation, I just want them (the
survivors) found," he told Metro TV.
Psychics are also helping the search, with one, a Mama Lauren, saying the aircraft
had crashed in Lake Tempe in South Sulawesi's Wajo regency.
In Majene, West Sulawesi, a search and rescue team enlisted the help of local
shamans and slaughtered a buffalo in a traditional ceremony, where food offerings
were made to the spirits of the jungle and prayers were offered to ancestors to "clear
the path" for the operation.
"When we come to a new place we have to greet the spirits here," Majene milit! ary
chief Zakariya told AFP.
"This is the local custom practiced here for generations to clear the path when we
start our search. It is just seeking permission to search this area."
"You can see that even when using very hi-tech devices and enlisting the help of
Singapore, we have still not found anything. So this is an alternative measure that we
are using," he said.
On Thursday Singaporean Air Force soldiers joined the search, and on Saturday a
six-member team from the United States is expected in Sulawesi.
Antara reported the team includes members of the U.S. National Transportation
Safety Board, Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration and a representative from
General Electric.
Commodore Eddy said all information from the public was being checked.
Meanwhile, rumors about the fate of the plane spread around the country via mobile
phone text messages, with some suggesting the aircraft blew up in mid-air after
terrorists detonated a bomb or sabotaged the plane.
A number of the passengers' families were still camping out at Makassar's airport on
Friday but others had given up waiting and returned home.
On Saturday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who heads the National Disaster
Management Coordinating Board, is scheduled to arrive in Sulawesi and observe
first-hand the search and rescue operation.
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