Speaking by phone from the provincial capital of Jayapura, 4,000 km (2,500 miles) east of Jakarta, Wangsadisastra said the Twin Otter plane went missing on Friday morning and its wreckage was spotted from the air in a hard-to-reach area on Saturday. "It seems it struck a mountain because of smog or (bad) weather," he said.
The Jakarta Post newspaper said the plane had been chartered by a local government body to transport officials.
"Hopefully there are some still alive" among the nine passengers and three crew on board", but "seeing the conditions it's probably impossible", said Wangsadisastra. Evacuation operations would begin as soon as weather permitted, he said.

Copyright Reuters, 2006