Yesterday at noon, an Indonesian Trigana Air Service ATR-42 plane went missing and lost contact with air traffic control in the Papua province. The flight departed Sentani Airport in Jayapura at 2:22p.m. and was scheduled to land in Oksibil at 3:16p.m. It lost contact at about 2:55p.m. and no distress call was made from the plane.
Hours later, it was reported that some villagers had seen the plane go down. Today, it is reported that the missing plane has been found in the Oktabe district of the Papua province. Aerial and ground searches are still being performed and details are being verified.
The ATR42-300 turboprop aircraft was carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and five crew members. The search involves a forested and mountainous terrain. When the plane took off in Jayapura, the weather was clear, but meteorologists confirmed that there were some thunderstorms in the flight path.
Trigana Air Service is one of the few airlines banned from operating in Europe airspace because of safety issues and lack of proper administration.
Watch this space for more updates.
