AN INDONESIAN passenger plane carrying 54 people has lost
contact with air traffic control while flying in bad weather during a flight in
the country’s rugged easternmost province of Papua.
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| The missing plane, pictured in 2008 |
The Trigana Air ATR 42 turboprop plane lost contact in a remote
area just before 3pm (0600 GMT) after taking off from Sentani airport in
Papua’s capital Jayapura on a flight to Oksibil, the search and rescue agency
said on Twitter.
It was travelling to the Papua city of Oksibil.
The plane, which is more than 27 years old, was carrying 44
adults, five children and five crew on the flight which was scheduled to take
about 45 minutes, the agency said. It had left Jayapura about half an hour
before it disappeared, it added.
The weather was poor near Oksibil, with 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 Indonesia’s National Search and
Rescue Agency.
A plane was sent to look for the missing airliner, but the
search was later suspended due to darkness and bad weather, said Susanto, who
like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Much of Papua is covered with impenetrable jungles and
mountains. Some planes that have crashed there in the past have never been
found.
A search for the plane was suspended and will resume Monday
morning.
Trigana Air is an Indonesian airline, which is on a list of
airlines banned from operating in the European Union.
Trigana Air has had 14 serious incidents since it began
operations in 1991, losing 10 aircraft in the process, according to the Aviation
Safety Network.
It has been on a
European Union blacklist of banned
carriers since
2007. All but four of Indonesia's certified airlines are on the list.
Correspondents say
Indonesia has a patchy aviation record overall, with two major crashes in the
past year.
An Indonesia AirAsia plane
crashed in the Java Sea last
December while on an international flight from Surabaya to Singapore, killing
all 192 people on board.
A military transport
plane crashed in a residential area of Medan, Sumatra in July, killing more
than 140 people including several on the ground.
SOURCE: CNN, BBC
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