• Authorities have found the wreckage of an ATR 42-500 surveillance plane in South Sulawesi.
• 11 people were onboard, including ministry personnel conducting fisheries surveillance.
• Rescue operations are hampered by harsh weather conditions and mountainous terrain.
• One body has been recovered, and searches continue for the remaining individuals.
• The cause of the crash is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Committee.

Indonesian authorities have successfully located the wreckage of a missing fisheries surveillance plane that went down in South Sulawesi, while still searching for the 11 individuals on board. The ATR 42-500 turboprop, owned by Indonesia Air Transport, lost contact with air traffic control around 1:30 PM local time on Saturday when it was flying from Yogyakarta to Makassar. A rescue team was deployed immediately upon losing communication with the aircraft, which was chartered by the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry for air surveillance tasks, involving eight crew members and three ministry staff members, according to Channel News Asia and Reuters.

On Sunday, local authorities confirmed the discovery of the wreckage in various locations around Mount Bulusaraung, a mountainous area in the Maros region. Rescuers deployed an extensive operation with over 1,200 personnel, including military and police forces, to conduct the search despite challenging conditions like heavy fog and steep terrain, which have complicated the efforts. According to Andi Sultan from the South Sulawesi rescue agency, the wreckage included significant aircraft parts such as the fuselage and tail section, as reported by India Times and Al Jazeera.

As of Sunday afternoon, rescuers retrieved one body from a ravine near the wreckage site, with reports indicating that additional bodies have been spotted but remain unreachable due to the hazardous conditions. Muhammad Arif Anwar, head of the Makassar search and rescue agency, indicated that search operations would persist in hopes of finding more survivors. Investigators from Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee are looking into the circumstances surrounding the crash, which remains undetermined, according to South China Morning Post and Los Angeles Times.

Initial findings suggest the aircraft may have encountered controlled flight into terrain, as stated by Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of the Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee. The ATR 42-500 is a regional aircraft typically carrying 42 to 50 passengers, and this incident marks a significant aviation safety concern within Indonesia, a nation frequently reliant on air transport to connect its extensive islands, according to Reuters and Channel News Asia.