Plane Missing With 54 Passengers

Publish Date
Sunday, 16 August 2015, 9:55PM
An ATR 42 turboprop plane is missing. Photo- Getty Images

An ATR 42 turboprop plane is missing. Photo- Getty Images

An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 54 people has lost contact with air traffic control during a flight in the rugged easternmost province of Papua.

The Trigana Air ATR 42 turboprop plane lost contact just before 1600 AEST after taking off from Sentani airport in Papua's capital Jayapura on a flight to Oksibil, the search and rescue agency said on Twitter.

The plane 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.

Transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata confirmed the plane had lost contact and said it was supposed to arrive at Oksibil airport just after 1600 AEST.

"We are not sure what happened to the plane yet and we are co-ordinating with local authorities," he told AFP.

"The weather is currently very bad there, it's very dark and cloudy. It's not conducive for a search. The area is mountainous."

Source- NZ Herald

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