Indonesian officials have suspended the search for a missing passenger plane that crashed into the mountains on Sunday, due bad weather.
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The flight had been headed from Jayapura – the provincial capital of Papua – to Oksibil when it lost contact at 2.55 p.m. (0755GMT) Sunday. A second search plane has been dispatched to verify the debris spotted Monday, Col. I Made Susila Adyana, an Indonesian Air Force official in Papua, told the national news agency Antara.
It has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, according to the online database Aviation Safety Network.
A Super Puma helicopter crashed in the same area last year, said Sito, a BASARNAS communications operator in Jayapura who goes by one name.
Vaessen said reports indicated that “the weather was very bad” in Papua at the time the plane was in the air.
Officials said the wreck was at dotted about 12 distances (six airline miles) from Oksibil.
Dudi Sudibyo, an aviation analyst, said Papua is a particularly risky place to fly because of its mountainous terrain and rapidly changing weather patterns.
Mardin Manurung, an official from the Pegunungan Bintang district administration, told the Jakarta Globe that the plane reportedly crashed into a low-lying mountain in Okbape subdistrict, some 20 kilometers from Oksibil. The landscape where the search was focused on is quite risky to deal with – hence why the search operations were halted yesterday, specially because of adverse weather conditions. Relatives of passengers were becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of hard news, with some shouting “We want confirmation!” and throwing a table at a crisis centre set up by Trigana Air at Jayapura airport.
More than 250 rescuers had tried to battle through dense forest to reach what is thought to be the wreckage of the Trigana Air plane, which disappeared Sunday during a short flight in Papua province.
Air transport is used in Papua as land travel is often impossible. In 2007, the European Commission added Trigana to its list of airlines banned “because they are found to be unsafe and/or they are not sufficiently overseen by their authorities”.
The Associated Press reports the plane was carrying 54 people as well as $468,750 in cash, which was going to be distributed to poor people as government fuel aid.
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In June, at least 141 people were killed after an Indonesian Air Force C-130 plane crashed into a residential area in Medan, North Sumatra and burst into flames.
