Jakarta, May 07: An Indonesian passenger plane has crashed into a sea near the eastern island of Papua, killing all the people on board.
“I can confirm that all the passengers were killed when the plane exploded as it crashed into the sea. We found 15 bodies floating on the water and the other passengers are trapped inside the wreckage”, AFP quoted a navy officer involved in the search operation as saying on Saturday.
Bambang Ervan, an Indonesian transport ministry spokesman, said earlier that there were 27 passengers and crew on the plane. However, the exact number of people on board is not known yet.
The MA-60 aircraft, from Merpati Nusantara airlines, took off from Sorong city for Kaimana district in West Papua province and crashed near the eastern island of Papua, the spokesman said.
The vast Indonesian archipelago relies heavily on air transport and has one of Asia’s worst air safety records.
—-Agencies