Nine people were feared dead after a plane crashed in the mountains of the remote Indonesian province of Papua, an official said Saturday.
The aircraft operated by Trigana Air Service was located Saturday morning after crashing the previous day at "an altitude of 10,600 feet (3,180 metres) near the district of Ilaga," John Retok, an official from the nearby Timika transportation office told ElShinta news radio. The twin-engine turboprop plane carrying nine passengers and crew was flying from the Puncakjaya district capital of Mulia to Ilaga when it went missing, the Antara state news agency said.
The weather was reported clear at the time the ill-fated plane took off, but "in Papua especially in the mountains, the weather can change within minutes," Retok said.
"Airline accidents are quite high in Papua, mostly caused by the topography and weather conditions. Only last month another Trigana aircraft crashed. This is the fourth time we had airline accidents in Papua this year," he said. Rescuers were attempting to reach the crash site but the difficult terrain and unpredictable weather meant they were not optimistic about finding any survivors, he said.