Plane Crashes In Remote Indonesian Region

An aircraft with 54 people on board has crashed in Indonesia's remote region of Papua, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the Southeast Asian nation.

"The latest information is that the Trigana aircraft that lost contact has been found at Camp 3, Ok Bape district in the Bintang Mountains regency," Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo told reporters. "Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain."

Earlier, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said a twin-turboprop plane had lost contact with air traffic control as it flew over the forested area of eastern Indonesia but efforts to trace it were difficult because of failing light.

Trigana Air Operations Director Beni Sumaryanto said that within 30 minutes of hearing that the aircraft was missing, the airline sent another plane to search the same flight path but it had found nothing because of bad weather, local media reported.

According to the official BASARNAS Twitter account, the aircraft, a short-haul ATR 42-300 belonging to Trigana Air Service, was carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and infants, and five crew.

The plane was flying between Jayapura's Sentani Airport and Oksibil, south of Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.

Air transport is commonly used in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, where land travel is often impossible.

BANNED IN EUROPE

Trigana Air has been on the EU's list of banned carriers since 2007. Airlines on the list are barred from operating in European airspace due to either concerns about safety standards or the regulatory environment in their country of registration.

Trigana has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network. Excluding this latest incident, it has written off 10 aircraft.

Indonesia has a patchy aviation safety record and has seen two major plane crashes in the past year, including an AirAsia flight that went down in the Java Sea, killing all on board.

The AirAsia crash prompted the Indonesian government to introduce regulations aimed at improving safety.