Missing Indonesian plane found crashed in Papua mountain

JAKARTA: An Indonesian Transportation Ministry official confirmed on Monday that the missing plane on a dmestic flight with 54 people aboard was found by villagers in province Papua late on Sunday. Smoke was seen by villagers on Monday still billowing in the Bintang mountains. They said the plane was was spotted by some people flying low before crashing into a mountain.

The crash site has been located in Oktabe district of Papua region, the BBC reported. The fate of the 49 passengers — including five children — and crew of five was not known immediately.

The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane lost contact 33 minutes after taking off on the 42-minute flight, the transport ministry said in a statement. No distress call was detected. The aircraft was operated by Trigana Air Service.

The plane was flying between Sentani airport in Jayapura and Oksibil, the capital of Papua province.

An AirAsia jet crashed flying from Surabaya to Singapore last December. All 162 people on board were killed. The crash had prompted the government to introduce regulations aimed at improving safety.

August 17, 2015