East Belitung. Fishermen in Desa Baru, East Belitung, Bangka Belitung Islands Province, have discovered wreckage from the BO-105/P1103 police helicopter that crashed in East Belitung waters on November 22, 2022.

The helicopter debris was found by a fisherman named Irwan Ivan on July 14 while he was lifting fish traps about 3 miles from the Manggar coastline. Ivan reported the discovery to the Manggar Marine and Air Police Unit.

The joint SAR operation team from Bangka Belitung Province is now focusing on locating the main body of the helicopter.

"The main focus of the search and diving operations this time is the pilot who was inside the helicopter that lost contact in East Belitung waters in 2022," said I Made Oka Astawa, head of the Pangkalpinang SAR office, on Saturday.

Astawa hopes the discovery of the helicopter wreckage will provide clues to the whereabouts of the missing pilot, Arif Rahman Saleh. There were a total of four crew members on the helicopter.

On Saturday, the joint SAR team, assisted by six divers from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and divided into two sessions with three divers per session, continued the search.

"The joint SAR team, consisting of rescuers from the Pangkalpinang SAR office, the police, the East Belitung Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), and fishermen, moved together to the location of the wreckage to assist in the recovery process," Oka said.