PAPE’ETE (Oceania Flash) – An all-out search in the Tuamotou archipelago, which is northeast of the main island of Tahiti, has been called off for the night in French Polynesia, where a small Piper Aztec aircraft has been missing for the past 12 hours, with four prominent politicians from the pro-autonomy Fetia Api party, onboard, RFO reports.
Authorities say the twin-engine aircraft, a small Piper PA-34, had been chartered by politicians from the pro-autonomy Fetia Api party, as part of their political campaign for the upcoming French general elections.
The four politicians, including party President Boris Léontieff, who is also a member of the territorial parliament, had taken off Friday from the island of Kaukura, en route to the island of Makemo, which is northeast of Tahiti.
The plane was reported to have left Kaukura at around 6:25 a.m. local time and was due on Makemo a little less than two hours later.
Forty minutes before the scheduled arrival time, a public servant from the civil aviation received what seemed to be a distress radio message from the plane, saying it experienced bad weather.
The pilot, who did not mention any major failure, said he intended to divert and land on a nearby island, Katiu.
The Piper was reported to have just re-fueled and was believed to have a flight autonomy of some 4.5 hours when it left Kaukura, the daily La Dépêche de Tahiti reports.
But it was never to be seen there either.
For the rest of the day, local authorities had undertaken an all-out search for the missing aircraft, using two Falcon Jet Guardian Navy surveillance planes, a helicopter and navy vessel Dumont d’Urville.
Local fishermen had also taken part in the search.
Michel Mathieu, France’s high commissioner in French Polynesia, told a press conference it was not excluded that the aircraft could have landed somewhere else or even attempted to return to Tahiti.
Others, like the territory’s President Gaston Flosse, believe the plane could simply have landed on one of the many tiny remote atolls in the area.
Political leaders in French Polynesia, including Flosse and Parliament Speaker Lucette Taero, have expressed “deep emotion” at the news and their sympathy to the missing passengers’ families and friends.
Search efforts were to resume Saturday at first daylight.
They will be reinforced with another military Super Puma helicopter and a Casa transport and medically equipped aircraft.
