Cargo plane carrying four missing in eastern Indonesia
An Indonesian cargo plane with four people on board lost contact with air traffic control , an official said, the latest incident to hit the country's poor aviation record.
The Twin Otter DHC6-400, set off from the city of Timika on Wednesday at 10:39 am (0239 GMT) and was headed to Ilaga, a mountainous region in the remote eastern province of Papua and was scheduled to arrive 50 minutes after taking off.
"After 2.5 hours, there has been no information from the nearest airport on the plane's whereabouts, we decided to announce the plane has lost contact," local transportation agency head, Yan Purba told Metro TV .
The aircraft was carrying three crew members and one passenger as well as 1.7 tonnes of rice.
Search and rescue have been assembled for the missing plane which was flying in a good weather condition, Purba said.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands, but mountainous Papua is a particularly difficult area to reach.
The country has a poor aviation safety record and Papua is a particularly problematic place to fly due to its mountainous terrain and frequent poor weather.
In June, a military helicopter with 12 people on board lost contact just minutes after it took off from a remote Papua district Oksibil, to Sentani, also in Papua.
The remains of the aircraft have not been found to this day.
Earlier in 2016, a cargo plane carrying construction materials crashed in Ilaga, killing all four people on board.
(Source: AFP)
Starbucks closes 50 stores in Malaysia amid anti-Israel boycott drive
Iran, Azerbaijan top brass underline military, defense cooperation
New Zealand: Maori MPs protest in parliament with Haka war dance
VIDEO | Paris march in support of Palestine women
VIDEO | ICC issues arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister, ousted regime war minister
120 Palestinians perish as Israeli war machine keeps ravaging Gaza
VIDEO | Struggles of Palestinian women amidst war, displacement
VIDEO | Hezbollah rains attack drones down on elite Israeli brigade
VIDEO | US biased mediation fails
Leader: All captains of criminal, Zionist, terrorist gang must be prosecuted
Iran further raises its oil prices for Chinese buyers: Report
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
