After finding part of wreckage of the missing passenger plane with 102 people on board operated by Adam Air Corp., the search will focus on waters and beach off South and West Sulawesi, the head of a rescue team said on Thursday.

 

Air Commander Edy Suyanto said all ships, aircraft and personnel that have spent days to locate the Boeing 737-400 in a wide territory including in the waters and land, will focus their efforts on the waters and the beach.

 

"The flow of the waters is from north to south, so we focus in the direction," he told Xinhua on telephone from Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.

 

The search will focus on Mamuju and Majene waters of West Sulawesi and Pare Pare waters of South Sulawesi, said Suyanto.

 

Five ships, including one from the United States and scores of aircraft have been deployed to find the plane since last week.

 

The passenger plane went missing last Monday while it was on route from Java island to Sulawesi about an hour before it was due to land amid very bad weather.

 

The right tail of horizontal stabilizer of the plane was found Thursday morning in the waters of Baru regency of the South Sulawesi province, near Pare Pare regency. Also found were one dead body of a woman, one life belt, a clothe and pieces of broken glasses, said police officer Komang Sudarmansyah at Pare Pare district police station of Pare Pare regency.

 

However, he said the authorities have yet to confirm the link of the finding to the missing plane.

 

Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa was quoted by Metro TV as saying that the plane might have disappeared over waters. Thursday morning's finding is meaningful, said Hatta.

 

Commenting on reports that the rescue team found a metal in the deep waters, the minister said a few more days are needed to determine the type of the object.

 

The rescue coordinator Commodore Edy Suyanto of the Indonesian Navy said that the authorities have matched up the number in the wood to the number of the missing plane.The number on the tail is similar with the number of the missing Adam Air plane, he said.

 

Adam Air is one of more than dozens budget airline companies established in the country since 1999. The strong competition has led to cheap price with concern over safety standard.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2007)