Safety concerns: Indonesian plane crashes with 54 on board

JAKARTA:

An aircraft with 54 people on board crashed in Indonesia’s remote and mountainous region of Papua on Sunday, a government official said, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the Southeast Asian nation.

“The latest information is that the Trigana aircraft that lost contact has been found at Camp 3, Ok Bape district in the Bintang Mountains regency,” Air Transportation DG Suprasetyo told reporters.

“Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain,” he added.  Earlier, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said a twin-turboprop plane had lost contact with air traffic control as it flew over the forested area of eastern Indonesia but efforts to trace it were difficult because of failing light.

Trigana Air Operations Director Beni Sumaryanto said that within 30 minutes of hearing that the aircraft was missing, the airline sent another plane to scour the same flight path but it had found nothing because of bad weather, local media reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2015.