The Indonesian plane that was reported missing yesterday has been found. A search plane found the aircraft early Monday. According to officials, the plane was 7 miles away from its destination.
Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said that search and rescue team are now trying to reach the aircraft by air and foot, though the bad weather and rugged terrain have not been helping the team get to the mountainous area, as they try to reach the wreckage which is located at an altitude of 8,5000 ft.
A Trigana AT-42 after a crash in 2010, above is the passenger cabin
Soelistyo said that the elite forces and the army will build a helipad close to the crash site for evacuation purposes.
Indonesian Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo confirmed the news that the flight was found crashed by villagers who reported the it crashed into a mountain in Papua, the nation's largest and most eastern province.
At the time of this writing, no news about the passengers inside the aircraft, as their aircraft have 54 people aboard, including 5 children and infants, and 5 crew members.
This is the third crash for Indonesian in the year, and it is a catastrophe for the Southeast Asian's nation air transportation system.
Trigana airline was one of the many Indonesian airlines banned from flying to Europe after it raises safety concerns. The local airline was established in 1991, and had 14 "accidents and incidents" since 1992, according to the Aviation safety network