OKSIBIL, Indonesia, Aug. 18 (UPI) — Authorities have found the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the Trigana Air Service ATR 42-300 plane that crashed in Indonesia’s Papua province.
The information on the recorders, which were found in good condition, will be used to determine the circumstances surrounding the plane’s crash. All 54 people aboard the plane are presumed dead.
“The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify. There is no chance anyone survive,” Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters.
The plane crashed in a rugged, mountainous region at an altitude of about 8,500 feet, which makes reaching the plane difficult. There is no indication a distress call was sent out before the crash.
Aboard the aircraft were 44 adults, five children and five crew members — all of whom were Indonesian.
Indonesian authorities confirmed that four bags containing about 6.5 billion rupiah, or $471,500, of local aid were also aboard.
The plane was traveling domestically on Sunday between the Jayapura-Sentani Airport and Oksibil Airport in Indonesia’s Papua province, bordering Papua New Guinea.
The double-propeller plane crashed about seven miles away from its destination. Contact with the airplane was lost at 2:55 p.m. local time after taking off about 34 minutes prior from Jayapura, the regional capital.
The crash site was first spotted by villagers in surrounding areas. The plane took its first flight 27 years ago.
Trigana Air Service has had 14 serious incidents, where 10 planes have been lost, since operations began in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The carrier was added to a list of airlines banned in the European Union in 2007.
