54 bodies found at Indonesian plane crash site, ‘no survivors’—official
JAYAPURA, Indonesia — The bodies of all 54 people who were on board a plane that crashed in remote eastern Indonesia at the weekend were found Tuesday at the crash site, an official said.
“There are no survivors. All fifty-four bodies have been found,” transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata told AFP. The Trigana Air plane was carrying 49 passengers, among them five children, and five crew.
The ATR 42-300 is “completely destroyed,” search and rescue chief Bambang Soelistyo told AFP after rescue teams reached the site at 9:30 am (0030 GMT). “Everything was in pieces and part of the plane is burnt. We could see burn marks on some pieces.”
Photos of the site show a clearing in thick forest that appears to be fire-blackened and scattered with debris.
Smoldering wreckage of the Trigana Air Service turboprop plane was spotted from the air Monday morning in a rugged area of the easternmost province of Papua, rescue officials said.
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