This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/world/asia/indonesia-says-crash-site-of-missing-plane-found-in-papua-province.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Crash Site of Missing Indonesia Plane Found in Papua, Official Says Missing Plane in Indonesia Is Found in Remote Area of Papua, Official Says
(about 4 hours later)
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency on Monday found what it believed to be the crash site of a commercial aircraft carrying 54 people that vanished the day before in stormy weather in the eastern province of Papua, an official said. JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian spotter plane on Monday photographed the wreckage of a commercial aircraft that crashed in stormy weather in a remote area of the eastern province of Papua the previous day, probably killing all 54 people aboard, an official said. Search operations were halted because of darkness.
A civilian search and rescue team, supported by the Indonesian military, was battling through thick, mountainous jungle to reach the site where the aircraft is believed to have crashed, said Zainul Thahar, a spokesman for the search and rescue agency. The photographs, which the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency released at a news conference on Monday afternoon, showed debris in a heavily forested area of the Bintang Mountains district in Papua Province, said Heronimus Guru, deputy director of operations for the agency.
He said the agency had “detected a signal” pinpointing the location of the missing aircraft, but he declined to indicate whether the signal was from one of the plane’s black boxes or another homing device. He said the agency would hold a news conference in Jakarta at 4 p.m. local time on Monday to discuss further details. He said that search and rescue workers had to camp in the jungle on Monday night and would resume their effort to reach the site the next day.
“We can only say we have located the alleged location of the plane, but not any debris,” Mr. Zainul said. “This is a remote area and hard to get to.” “Because of the remote location of the area, we have not yet been able to reach it,” Mr. Heronimus said. “Even local people have never been to this location.”
In addition to a search team traveling on foot, he said, two search aircraft were flying above the terrain looking for wreckage. Further communications with government agencies were hindered on Monday as the day was Indonesia’s 70th anniversary of independence.
News outlets indicated that search teams spotted debris early Monday that was thought to be from the missing flight, but officials from the search and rescue agency declined to confirm the reports. The civilian rescue team, supported by the Indonesian military, was battling through thick, mountainous jungle to reach the site, Zainul Thahar, a spokesman for the search agency, said earlier in the day.
The short-haul airliner, operated by Trigana Air Service, left Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Sunday afternoon. It was bound for Oksibil, about 170 miles to the south. The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers about 30 minutes after takeoff, said Toha, a spokesman at the command center of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, in Jakarta. He said the agency had “detected a signal” pinpointing the location of the missing aircraft, but he declined to indicate whether the signal was from one of the plane’s black boxes or another homing device.
The plane was carrying 49 passengers, including two children and three infants, along with five crew members from Trigana, said Mr. Toha, who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. The missing short-haul airliner, operated by Trigana Air Service, left Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Sunday afternoon. It was bound for Oksibil, about 170 miles to the south. The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers about 30 minutes after takeoff, said Toha, a spokesman at the command center of the National Search and Rescue Agency in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
The plane was carrying 49 passengers, including two children and three infants, along with five crew members from Trigana, said Mr. Toha, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Indonesia has had many commercial and military aircraft disasters in recent years, including two deadly crashes in the past eight months, raising questions about the safety of the country’s aviation industry.
On Dec. 28, an AirAsia flight bound from Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province, crashed en route to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard. In July, an Indonesian military C-130 transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff in the northern city of Medan, on Sumatra Island, killing all 122 people aboard and at least 21 people on the ground in a residential neighborhood.
No-frills, regional commercial airlines like Trigana are among the only ways that residents of the region, which encompasses Papua and West Papua provinces, can travel by air.
Trigana has had 14 episodes — three of them resulting in fatalities — since it began operations in 1991, including a crash in 2006, also in Papua Province, that killed all 12 passengers and crew aboard, according to the Aviation Safety Network, an online database.
Dudi Sudibyo, a pilot and aviation analyst and a former chief editor of Angkasa, an Indonesian aviation magazine, said it was too early to determine whether the crash was caused by pilot error or bad weather.
He said sources in the aviation industry had told him that the pilot of the missing aircraft — whose name he declined to disclose — was very experienced.
“Anybody who flies in Papua must already be a good pilot because you are flying just like 20 or 30 meters above the mountains. That’s it,” he said. “It’s very low, and the atmosphere can change very quickly. Anyone flying there has to know the nature of the territory.”