Crashed Indonesian plane found ‘completely destroyed’

A family member of a passenger on the Trigana Air plane which crashed waits for news at the crisis centre at Sentani Airport in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia. Andika Wahyu / Antara Foto / Reuters

JAYAPURA, INDONESIA // A plane that crashed in eastern Indonesia was found “completely destroyed” on Tuesday with the bodies of all 54 passengers and crew strewn amid the wreckage in a fire-blackened jungle clearing.

Rescuers finally reached the debris of the Trigana Air plane, which went down on Sunday in Papua province during a short flight in bad weather. Search efforts on Monday were abandoned because of thick fog and rain in the mountainous region.

The flight data recorders, which could provide clues about the cause of the crash, were retrieved. Money, some it burnt, was also found among the wreckage of the plane, which had been transporting 6.5 billion rupiah (Dh1.7 million) in cash.

The head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said the ATR 42-300 plane was “completely destroyed”.

“Everything was in pieces and part of the plane is burnt,” Bambang Soelistyo said.

Photos of the site showed a fire-blackened clearing in thick jungle strewn with debris. The twin-turboprop plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew and officials said all the bodies had been found.

The team of about 100 rescuers, including soldiers and police, found some bodies were not intact while others were badly burnt.

The harsh conditions meant authorities planned to remove the bodies by helicopter.

None had been recovered when efforts to retrieve the dead were suspended on Tuesday afternoon due to thick fog with, Mr Soelistyo. A fresh attempt will be made on Wednesday.

The money on the plane, which was being carried in four bags by postal officials, was government social assistance funds to be distributed to poor families in the remote community of Oksibil where the plane had been heading.

Mr Soelistyo did not say how much money had been found. He said he had instructed the rescuers to hand all items recovered, including the money, to the authorities.

The plane had set off from Jayapura on what was supposed to be a 45-minute flight to Oksibil.

But it lost contact with air traffic control about 10 minutes before reaching its destination, soon after the crew requested permission to start descending in heavy cloud and rain to land.

Captain Beni Sumaryanto, Trigana Air’s service director of operations, said “unpredictable weather and mountainous terrain” had likely caused the accident, adding that the plane was in good condition and the pilot experienced.

Small aircraft are commonly used for transport in remote and mountainous Papua and bad weather has caused several accidents in recent years.

Last week a Cessna propeller plane crashed in Papua’s Yahukimo district, killing one person and seriously injuring the five others on board. Officials suspect that crash was also caused by bad weather.

Trigana Air, a small domestic Indonesian airline, has experienced a string of serious incidents and is banned from flying in European Union airspace.

Indonesia has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered major disasters in recent months. An AirAsia plane crashed in December with the loss of 162 lives. In June an Indonesian military plane crashed into a residential neighbourhood in the city of Medan, exploding in a fireball and killing 142 people.

The aviation sector in Indonesia is expanding fast but airlines are struggling to find enough well-trained personnel to keep up with the rapid growth in the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands.

* Agence France-Presse