A cargo aircraft carrying fuel, and other supplies from Trigana Air Service has skidded on the runway while landing at the Wamena airport in Papua on Tuesday (Sep 13) morning.
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White smoke could be seen billowing as the plane scraped against the runway.
The unsafe landing took place after the aircraft’s back wheels failed to extend causing it to the skid.
The landing gear of the cargo aircraft reportedly failed before it arrived at around 7:30am local time.
Authorities in Indonesia have now closed the airport while they carry out an investigation to probe what caused the belly landing.
On his Twitter account, Bambang said the state-owned energy company had hired the plane to deliver fuel supplies to Jayapura and Wamena – two small towns in Papua. The pilot, co-pilot and technician were able to escape.
Wamena airport is located in the middle of a mountainous region and planes often have to take-off and land in extremely low cloud cover.
“They touched down very hard in a nose high attitude which instantly collapsed both main gear”.
PT Trigana’s Papua area manager, Bustomi Eka Prayitno told The Jakarta Post the back wheels of the aircraft had not extended fully into position, causing the landing gear to fail, with the aircraft skidding across the runway surface.
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Trigana Air Service didn’t immediately respond for a request for comment.
