2nd LD: Missing plane found hit mountain in Indonesia: official
Xinhua, August 16, 2015 Adjust font size:
Suprasetyo, director general of the air transport of Indonesia's transport ministry said the plane, which went missing earlier on Sunday, hit a mountain.
The official made the announcement in a press conference.
Meanwhile, other officials of the transport ministry said residents in Oksibil, the flight's scheduled destination, have reported seeing the missing plane crash.
The ATR-42 aircraft, operated by Trigana Air, lost communication with the control tower at 14:55 local time (0555 GMT) .
Three children and two infants were among the 49 passengers and five crews, officials said.
The TGN267 flight took off at 14:22 from the Sentani airport in Papua's capital of Jayapura and was expected to arrive at Oksibil at 15:04, he said.
Barata, the spokesman for the National Search and Rescue Agency, said the search teams, due to severe weather, plan to resume operation on Monday morning.
On Aug. 12, a small passenger plane crashed when it was trying to land in Ninia airport of Papua, killing one person and badly wounding the pilot and four others.
Small planes have been operated in remote provinces of Indonesia, an archipelago nation of some 17,000 islands. Endi