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Bad weather hampers evacuation of bodies from Indonesia's crashed plane

Xinhua, August 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

The evacuation of bodies from the crash site of Trigana Air ATR-42 plane in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua is facing problems with bad weather, according to local rescuers.

"Helicopters cannot fly in the current weather condition in Oksibil. As of now there is no confirmation yet about the departure of body evacuation. We have to wait for the (weather) development," Papua Military Command Spokesperson Teguh Pudji told reporters in the plane crash operation center in Papua's Sentani air forces base on Wednesday.

"If the weather condition allows us to do so, we would evacuate them as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

Torrential rain has been pouring down in Papua since last night, leaving dark skies around Sentani.

According to Teguh, the slippery and dangerous ground resulted from the heavy rain made the rescuer team only capable to carry 6 bodies as of Wednesday noon from the crash site that spans 18 kilometer away to Oksibil, the nearest area from the crash site.

Teguh said that black box of the ill-fated plane is now kept in Oksibil airstrip, waiting to be handed over to the chief of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee by the head of search and rescue agency Oksibil.

Bodies of all those onboard the crashed plane would be sent to the operation base in Sentani before being transferred to Bhayangkara hospital in Papua's capital of Jayapura for further identification process.

The ATR-42 Trigana Air was reported to have lost contact with the air traffic control during its flight from Sentani to Oksibil on Sunday afternoon. The plane's debris was initially spotted Monday morning in the slope of mountain near Oksibil. Endi