| Indonesian plane with 54 people on board missing in remote Papua region |
Jakarta: An Indonesian domestic passenger aircraft carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday in the remote eastern Papua region, the National Search and Rescue Agency said.
"Lost contact with plane," BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelystyo said.
According to the official BASARNAS Twitter account, the aircraft belonging to Trigana Air Service was carrying 44 adult passengers, five crew and five children and infants.
The plane was flying between Jayapura's Sentani Airport and Oksibil, due south of Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.
Indonesia's transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata confirmed the plane had lost contact and said it was supposed to arrive at Oksibil airport just after 4.00pm AEST.
"We are not sure what happened to the plane yet and we are co-ordinating with local authorities," he said.
"The weather is currently very bad there, it's very dark and cloudy. It's not conducive for a search. The area is mountainous."
An AirAsia passenger jet crashed en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore last December, killing all 162 people on board. The crash prompted the government to introduce regulations aimed at improving safety.
Indonesia's president promised a review of the ageing air force fleet in July after a military transport plane crashed in the north of the country, killing more than 100 people.
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