Search for missing jet suspended

Indonesian authorities say a search for an Indonesian airliner that went down over Papua has been suspended for the night.

The Trigana Air Service plane was flying from Papua’s provincial capital, Jayapura, to the Papua city of Oksibil when it lost contact with Oksibil’s airport, Transportation Ministry spokesman Julius Barata says.

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, says Susanto, the head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.

A plane was sent to look for the missing airliner, but the search was later suspended due to darkness, says Susanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. The search operation will continue Monday morning, he says.

The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew members on the scheduled 42-minute journey, he says.

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

— AP