PAPE’ETE (Pacnews) — The search for a Piper Seneco aircraft missing in French Polynesia’s Tuamotu archipelago, northeast of Tahiti, continued in vain on Monday.
The plane, which took off from Kaukura on Thursday, never arrived as scheduled in Makemo.
The plane was carrying five people, including prominent politicians from the Fetia Api pro-autonomy party—the president of the party, Boris Leontieff and two candidates, Arsen Tuairau and his back-up Ferfine Besseyre—who were to stand in the French general elections due to begin on Saturday.
A politician from the Marquesas islands, Nuku Hiva Mayor Lucien Kimitete, was also on the plane. Three of the passengers were MPs at the Assembly of French Polynesia.
Before the plane disappeared, the pilot had told a civil aviation agent in Makemo that he intended to divert to nearby Katiu island. He did not mention that he had problems.
Three planes and two helicopters from the French Army flew several times over the search zone. Two French navy ships, two territorial ships, a schooner and several small fishing boats also looked for the plane. Army patrols searched Katiu’s small islets for evidence of a possible crash.
“We are not ruling out any options on what happened,” said Michel Mathieu, France’s high commissioner in French Polynesia.
Two civil aviation specialists have arrived from Paris to lead investigations.
