Rumours prompt report of survivors

Jakarta: Relatives waiting for news about a missing jetliner broke down in tears after learning on Tuesday that senior Indonesian officials erroneously reported the Boeing 737's charred wreckage had been found and that a dozen people may have survived.

"Oh, what is happening to us?" wailed Dorce Sundalangi, whose daughter was on the flight, after hearing the report was based on rumours from villagers that trickled up to the highest levels of government.

"They had given us hope of seeing our beloved relatives ... but it was false hope." The Adam Air plane carrying 102 people sent out two distress signals in stormy weather on Monday halfway through its two-hour journey from Indonesia's main island of Java to Manado, on the northern tip of Sulawesi, one of the largest islands in the sprawling archipelago.

Rescue and search teams hiked through heavy rain and slippery forest paths for more than 10 hours on Tuesday but found nothing, calling off their search along Sulawesi's mountainous western coast as darkness fell and vowing to set off again at dawn today.

Bambang Karnoyudho, the head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said the search would be expanded to include the nearby Makassar Strait.

The announcement capped a day of hope and anguish for relatives of those on Flight KI-574.

Police Chief Col Genot Hariyanto earlier said rescue teams had arrived at the crash site. Setyo Raharjo, head of the National Commission on Transportation Safety, said 90 bodies were found near the wreckage, and the search for the other 12 was continuing.

The claims were repeated by everyone from the chief of Adam Air who extrapolated to say that a dozen people survived to senior aviation officials, and high-ranking military officials and police.