Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar
Searchers slaughtered a buffalo in a traditional ceremony and consulted psychics Friday, the fourth day after an Adam Air jetliner went missing over Sulawesi.
Meanwhile, thousands of soldiers and police continued a massive search over land and water on the southern part of the island for the missing aircraft.
Bad weather continued to hamper the operation and as of late Friday there were still no signs of the Adam Air Boeing 737-400 or any of its 102 passengers.
"None of our search efforts on land, sea and air have yielded results," said the commander of the Hasanuddin Air Base in Makassar, Commodore Eddy Suyanto, adding the operation would continue Saturday.
Flight KI-574 vanished from radar screens an hour after departing from Surabaya on Monday afternoon for Manado. Reports said the pilot had reported heavy winds just before all contact with the aircraft was lost.
In Jakarta protesters grouped in the Solidarity for Transport Victims group called for the resignation of Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa. Demonstrating in front of his office, they demanded he be held accountable for other accidents including the sinking of the Senopati Nusantara ferry last Friday off the north coast of Java. At least 400 passengers are still missing from the ferry, but rescuers expressed optimism of finding more survivors after locating another 15 passengers Thursday.
A relative of five people on board the Adam Air flight said Hatta should be put into police custody. "Just arrest him. I don't need compensation, I just want them (the survivors) found," he told Metro TV.
Psychics are also helping the search, with one, a Mama Lauren, saying the aircraft had crashed in Lake Tempe in South Sulawesi's Wajo regency.
In Majene, West Sulawesi, a search and rescue team enlisted the help of local shamans and slaughtered a buffalo in a traditional ceremony, where food offerings were made to the spirits of the jungle and prayers were offered to ancestors to "clear the path" for the operation.
"When we come to a new place we have to greet the spirits here," Majene military chief Zakariya told AFP.
"This is the local custom practiced here for generations to clear the path when we start our search. It is just seeking permission to search this area."
"You can see that even when using very hi-tech devices and enlisting the help of Singapore, we have still not found anything. So this is an alternative measure that we are using," he said.
On Thursday Singaporean Air Force soldiers joined the search, and on Saturday a six-member team from the United States is expected in Sulawesi.
Antara reported the team includes members of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, the Federal Aviation Administration and a representative from General Electric.
Commodore Eddy said all information from the public was being checked.
Meanwhile, rumors about the fate of the plane spread around the country via mobile phone text messages, with some suggesting the aircraft blew up in mid-air after terrorists detonated a bomb or sabotaged the plane.
A number of the passengers' families were still camping out at Makassar's airport on Friday but others had given up waiting and returned home.
On Saturday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who heads the National Disaster Management Coordinating Board, is scheduled to arrive in Sulawesi and observe first-hand the search and rescue operation.
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