No survivors in Papua plane crash

All 54 people on board a passenger plane that crashed in West Papua found dead.

OKSIBIL – Searchers have found the bodies of all 54 people on board and the black box from an Indonesian plane that crashed in a mountainous region of Papua province three days ago.

The Trigana Air ATR 42-300 was “completely destroyed” after crashing during bad weather on Sunday, a transportation ministry official said.

“Everything was in pieces and part of the plane is burnt. We could see burn marks on some pieces,” search and rescue chief Bambang Soelistyo said.

Photos of the site show a clearing in thick forested ravine that appears to be fire-blackened and scattered with debris.

The plane was carrying 54 people – 49 passengers, including five children of which two were babies, and five crew.

Transportation ministry spokesman Julius Adravida Barata said the bodies were currently unable to be evacuated due to bad weather.

Soelustyo said rescuers looked for survivors at the site, which is in dense forest in rugged terrain, but the chances of finding anyone alive were minimal.

“The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify,” Soelistyo said. “There is no chance anyone survived.”

There was no immediate news on the fate of 6.5 billion rupiah (A$637,443) in cash that was being transported by the plane, and was intended for distribution to poor families as social assistance funds.

Thick fog and rain had hampered attempts by more than 250 rescuers and 11 aircraft to reach the wreckage on Monday, and they had been forced to turn back.

The Trigana plane crashed as it flew from Papua’s capital Jayapura to Oksibil, a remote settlement in the mountains to the south.

The plane lost contact with air traffic control about 10 minutes before reaching its destination, soon after the crew requested permission to start descending in heavy cloud and rain to land.

Officials suspect bad weather may have caused the crash.

Relatives of passengers waiting at Jayapura airport have become increasingly frustrated at the lack of hard news since the weekend, with some shouting, “we want confirmation!” and throwing a table at a crisis centre in angry scenes on Monday.

Small aircraft are commonly used for transport in remote and mountainous Papua and bad weather has caused several accidents in recent years.