Jakarta, September 29: A small plane CASA C-212 carrying 18 people crashed in western Indonesia on Thursday, officials said.
Bambang Ervan says the CASA C-212 aircraft went down in the North Sumatran village of Bahorok. It was carrying three crew members and 15 passengers.
A Transportation Ministry spokesman says a small plane carrying 18 people has crashed in western Indonesia.
After receiving reports about the crash from local residents ,search and re3scue teams rushed to the spot.
The CASA C-212 lost contact with air traffic control halfway between North Sumatra and Aceh provinces , said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Transportation Ministry.
“It took off at 7:18 (0018GMT) and was supposed to land at 8:00,” the spokesman told , adding that a search and rescue team was trying to find the aircraft.
“Most probably it crashed as it sent an emergency signal,” he said, adding it was not known whether there were foreigners on board.
Local search and rescue chief Suhri Sinaga said that the aircraft sent an emergency signal in the Bahorok area of North Sumatra province.”We are trying to locate the aircraft,” he told.
A helicopter chartered by US giant Newmont Mining crashed on Sunday in central Indonesia, killing two people on board.Earlier this month, an Australian and a Slovak pilot were killed when their small Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, which was carrying fuel and food to a remote area in Papua province,went down.
——Agencies