Airliner crashes in mountainous Indonesia
JAYAPURA, Indonesia – A search plane has spotted the wreckage of an Indonesian passenger plane that went missing with 54 people onboard, rescue officials said today.
There was no immediate word if there were any survivors from the crash, which happened in bad weather Sunday in Indonesia’s mountainous easternmost province of Papua.
The Trigana Air Service plane was flying from Papua’s provincial capital, Jayapura, to the Papua city of Oksibil when it lost contact with Oksibil’s airport. Transportation Ministry spokesman Julius Barata said there was no indication that the pilot had made a distress call.
Officials said the wreckage was spotted about 7 miles from Oksibil, and Henry Bambang Soelistyo, the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said search and rescue teams were preparing to try to reach the crash site by air and foot.
The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew members on a scheduled 42-minute journey, Barata said. Five children, including two infants, were among the passengers.
Search planes went into the air early today after residents of a village not far from Oksibil told local police that they saw a plane flying low before crashing into a mountain, said Ludiyanto, who heads the search and rescue operation from Jayapura.
Ludiyanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said rugged, forested terrain and bad weather were hindering the search.
Local media reports said all the passengers are Indonesians. The airline has not released a passenger manifest.
Oksibil, which is 175 miles south of Jayapura, was experiencing heavy rain, strong winds and fog when the plane lost contact with the airport minutes before it was scheduled to land, said Susanto, the head of Papua’s search and rescue agency.
Much of Papua is covered with impenetrable jungles and mountains. Some planes that have crashed in the past have never been found.
Dudi Sudibyo, an aviation analyst, said Papua is a particularly dangerous place to fly because of its mountainous terrain and rapidly changing weather patterns.
European plane maker ATR said in a statement late Sunday that it “acknowledges the reported loss of contact” with the Trigana flight “and is standing by to support the relevant aviation authorities.”
ATR, based in Toulouse, France, makes regional planes with 90 seats or fewer.
Indonesia has had its share of airline woes in recent years. The sprawling archipelago nation of 250 million people and some 17,000 islands is one of Asia’s most rapidly expanding airline markets, but is struggling to provide enough qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety.
From 2007 to 2009, the European Union barred Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe because of safety concerns.