THE wreckage of an aircraft which went missing in Indonesia’s remote region of Papua on Sunday has been found by local villagers.
The shorthaul plane, operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana Air Service, had lost contact with air traffic controllers around 15.00 local time after taking off from Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, while en route to Oksibil Airport in Indonesia.
It is still unknown if any passengers survived the crash as search and rescue teams attempted to reach the mountainous site early Monday morning.
There were 54 passengers aboard the ATR 42-300 twin-turboprop plane, consisting of 44 adults, five crew members, four children and one infant. No tourists were on the flight, according to local media reports.
Trigana is a small airline company operating in remote parts of Indonesia. It has been on the EU’s list of banned carriers since 2007, along with other local carriers such as Lion Air.
The ban forbids those on the list from operating in European airspace due to safety and regulatory concerns.
This is the latest in a series of unfortunate air disasters to befall Indonesia, including an incident in December 2014 which saw an AirAsia jet carrying 162 passengers crash into the Java Sea.
