Searchers spot wreckage of missing Indonesia passenger plane

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) – Search and rescue teams are preparing to try to reach the site where a passenger plane crashed Sunday in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua.

A search plane has spotted the wreckage, but there’s no word if there were any 54 people onboard survived. Bad weather and the rugged mountain terrain have been hampering efforts to reach the site, which is at an altitude of about 8,500 feet.

The plane crashed in bad weather Sunday. The Trigana Air Service twin turboprop plane was flying from Papua’s provincial capital, Jayapura, to the city of Oksibil about 175 miles south. The area was experiencing heavy rain, strong winds and fog when the plane lost contact with Oksibil’s airport minutes before it was scheduled to land.

The Transportation Ministry says there’s no indication the pilot ever made a distress call.

Local media reports say all the passengers, including five children, are Indonesians.

Much of Papua is covered with impenetrable jungles and mountains. Some planes that have crashed there in the past have never been found.

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