Papua residents say they have found crashed plane–official

In this photo taken Dec. 26, 2010, Trigana Air Service’s ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane takes off at Supadio airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The same type of a Trigana airliner carrying 54 people was missing Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015, after losing contact with ground control during a short flight in bad weather in the country’s mountainous easternmost province of Papua, officials said. AP PHOTO

JAYAPURA, Indonesia–Villagers in eastern Indonesia’s Papua say that a plane which went missing in the province Sunday with 54 people aboard has crashed, an official said Sunday.

“The plane has been found (by villagers). According to residents, the flight had crashed into a mountain. Verification is still in process,” said the transport ministry’s director‎-general of air transportation, Suprasetyo, who goes by one name.

The Trigana Air plane disappeared earlier Sunday during a short flight from Papua’s capital Jayapura to a remote settlement in the mountains to the south.

The ATR 42-300 turboprop was carrying 49 passengers, including five children, and five crew.

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