Authorities Vow To Do Whatever They Can To Find Missing Indonesian Passenger Plane Which Disappeared With 54 People On Board

by Fox News | Asia

Plane disappears from radar over Papua 33 minutes after take-off. Bad Weather blamed. Officials vow to find it.

It was suspense today as an Indonesian Passenger plane was reported to have gone missing over Papua. It was carrying 54 people made up of 49 passengers and 5 crew members.

Media reports said the plane went missing at about 7.00GMT and four hours latter, its whereabouts has not been located.

Domestic Airline Trigana Air Service said the plane lost contact on Sunday afternoon local time while flying from Papua's provincial capital, Jayapura, to the Papua city of Oksibil

And according to a Transportation Ministry spokesman, Julius Barata, the ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was there were 54 passengers on board at the time and that the plane lost contact 33 minutes after taking off.

According to Fox News, the weather was poor near Oksibil, with heavy rain, strong winds and fog, when the plane lost contact with the airport nine minutes before it was scheduled to land.

Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency said the plane went missing over Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua.

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

But according to the BBC correspondent in Indonesia, officials have vowed they would do everything they could to find the missing plane.

Indonesia has had its share of airline woes in recent years. The sprawling archipelago nation of 250 million people and some 17,000 islands is one of Asia's most rapidly expanding airline markets, but is struggling to provide enough qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety.

* Fox News * NY Post * BBC