Little hope held of finding plane

Press, 20 July 1979, Page 1

Little hope held of finding plane

Searchers now hold little hope that a Christchurch family of six, whose plane has been missing in the northern highlands of Papua New Guinea since Monday, will be found alive. From now, searchers will rely mainly on “feedback” from remote mountain villagers to . lead them to the crash site.

The missing plane, a single-engine Cessna 206, was carrying a Christchurch missionary, Mr Robert Wilkinson, aged 42; his wife, Lois, 41; and their four young children, Stuart, 11; Marcia, nine; Michelle, seven; and Glenn, two months. Also on board were the

pilot, Mr Jim Johnson, of Sydney, and two other men, whose names have not yet been released. The aircraft was returning from an Open Brethren Church conference at Anguganak to the coastal mission settlement of Aitape, where the Wilkinson family lived. Searchers were “beginning to , despair” of ever finding the crash site, let alone the nine missing persons, said a spokesman at the church’s hostel at Wewak, near Anguganak, last evening. “The bush is so thick that a search party could see a helicopter just above them today, but its crew could not see them,’’ the spokesman said.

Seven aircraft, two helicopters, and several ground parties were involved in the search yesterday. The spokesman said they would cover a different area today after a native who spoke only pidgin English reported seeing a plane in trouble on Monday more than 10 miles from the original search area. “We also have experienced missionaries combing the bush tracks, trying to find out something from villagers on the way,” the spokesman said. The air search is expected to be called off tomorrow.