An Indonesian domestic passenger aircraft carrying 54 people has crashed in the Oktabe area of Papua, dealing another blow to the country’s poor air safety record.

The plane had been missing for several hours on Sunday after losing contact with air traffic control in the eastern part of Indonesia.

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

“The aircraft that lost contact has been found at Camp 3, Ok Bape district in the Bintang Mountains regency,” air transportation director General Suprasetyo said. “Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain.”

It was unclear whether anyone on board had survived.

Transport ministry spokesman Julius Barata said the ATR 42-300 twin turboprop lost contact with the airport nine minutes before it was scheduled to land.

Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency said the aircraft was operated by the airline Trigana Air Service and was carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and five crew members.

When the ATR 42-300 plane lost contact with air traffic control, an aircraft was sent to search for it but returned to Jayapura as darkness fell.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/16/indonesian-plane-missing-remote-papua-trigana-air-service

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