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Plane wreckage found in Indonesia's Papua

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-04 13:49

Missing plane debris found in Indonesia's Papua

JAKARTA: Indonesian search and rescue team discovered the wreckage of the Twin Otter plane that belongs to Indonesian airline company Merpati Nusantara, with the fate of 16 passengers onboard yet to be confirmed, the team's coordinator said on Tuesday.

"The plane's debris were seen in Ampisibil area that located in Bintan mountain regency at 06:00 a.m.(local time)," Suwandi Miharja was quoted by the Kompas.com as saying.

This August 10, 2007 file photo provided by NOAA shows a DeHavilland DHC6 Twin Otter similar to the one belonging to Merpati Nusantari airline that has gone missing over Indonesia's Papua region early Sunday Aug. 2, 2009. [Agencies]

Suwandi said that a pilot of one of the planes involved in the searching efforts saw a white dot in the mountain that was apparently the tail part of the ill-fated plane that went missing on Sunday morning.

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The crash site was located at three nautical miles from the regency's capital of Oksibil at a height of 9,300 feet (2,790 meters) from the sea surface, Suwandi said.  

The plane was reported missing on its service from Papua's capital of Jayapura to Oksibil.

He, however, could not confirm the fate of the 16 passengers onboard the plane. "We have dispatched a team to the site and now we are waiting more contacts from them," he said.

The team has prepared a Russian-made Kamov helicopter to evacuate the plane's passengers.

Plane crashes were frequent to occur in the mountainous province of Papua. Plane is the only reliable vehicle to transport people due to the tough area across the province.