Post by 727sky on Aug 16, 2015 6:09:33 GMT -6
At this stage this is all that is known:
Indonesian plane with 54 people on board missing in remote Papua region
An Indonesian domestic passenger aircraft carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday in the remote eastern Papua region, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said.
"Lost contact with plane," BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelystyo told Reuters by phone.
According to the official BASARNAS Twitter account, the aircraft belonging to Trigana Air Service was carrying 44 adult passengers, five crew and five children and infants.
The plane was flying between Jayapura's Sentani Airport and Oksibil, due south of Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.
An AirAsia passenger jet crashed en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore last December, killing all 162 people on board. The crash prompted the government to introduce regulations aimed at improving safety.
Indonesia's president promised a review of the ageing air force fleet in July after a military transport plane crashed in the north of the country, killing more than 100 people.
uk.reuters.com/article/2015/08/16/uk-indonesia-plane-idUKKCN0QL09F20150816
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33951718
Indonesian plane with 54 people on board missing in remote Papua region
An Indonesian domestic passenger aircraft carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday in the remote eastern Papua region, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said.
"Lost contact with plane," BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelystyo told Reuters by phone.
According to the official BASARNAS Twitter account, the aircraft belonging to Trigana Air Service was carrying 44 adult passengers, five crew and five children and infants.
The plane was flying between Jayapura's Sentani Airport and Oksibil, due south of Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.
An AirAsia passenger jet crashed en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore last December, killing all 162 people on board. The crash prompted the government to introduce regulations aimed at improving safety.
Indonesia's president promised a review of the ageing air force fleet in July after a military transport plane crashed in the north of the country, killing more than 100 people.
"We are not sure what happened to the plane yet and we are co-ordinating with local authorities," he told AFP news agency.
Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency later said the search had been suspended at nightfall because of limited visibility and would resume at 06:00 local time on Monday (21:00 GMT on Sunday).
Officials later said a second plane had been sent to look for the missing one, but was turned back because of the bad weather.
"Oksibil is a mountainous area where weather is very unpredictable," Trigana Air director of operations Beni Sumaryanto told AFP. "It can suddenly turn foggy, dark and windy without warning.
"We strongly suspect it's a weather issue. It is not overcapacity, as the plane could take 50 passengers."
Trigana Air has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, losing 10 aircraft in the process, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
It has been on a European Union blacklist of banned carriers since 2007. All but four of Indonesia's certified airlines are on the list.
Correspondents say Indonesia has a patchy aviation record overall, with two major crashes in the past year.
An Indonesia AirAsia plane crashed in the Java Sea last December while on an international flight from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 192 people on board.
A military transport plane crashed in a residential area of Medan, Sumatra in July, killing more than 140 people including several on the ground.
Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency later said the search had been suspended at nightfall because of limited visibility and would resume at 06:00 local time on Monday (21:00 GMT on Sunday).
Officials later said a second plane had been sent to look for the missing one, but was turned back because of the bad weather.
"Oksibil is a mountainous area where weather is very unpredictable," Trigana Air director of operations Beni Sumaryanto told AFP. "It can suddenly turn foggy, dark and windy without warning.
"We strongly suspect it's a weather issue. It is not overcapacity, as the plane could take 50 passengers."
Trigana Air has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, losing 10 aircraft in the process, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
It has been on a European Union blacklist of banned carriers since 2007. All but four of Indonesia's certified airlines are on the list.
Correspondents say Indonesia has a patchy aviation record overall, with two major crashes in the past year.
An Indonesia AirAsia plane crashed in the Java Sea last December while on an international flight from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 192 people on board.
A military transport plane crashed in a residential area of Medan, Sumatra in July, killing more than 140 people including several on the ground.
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33951718