An ATR-42 turboprop aircraft operated by Indonesian Trigana Air Service has crashed over the remote region of Papua, while traversing t...
An ATR-42 turboprop aircraft operated by Indonesian Trigana Air Service has crashed over the remote region of Papua, while traversing through stormy weather conditions.
The aircraft reportedly crashed into a mountain side in Okbape district region. The villagers nearby has located the wreckage with no survivors.
The aircraft operating Flight 267, was flying from Sentani airport, Jaypura to Oksibil airport, Oksibil with 54 people onboard, including 49 passengers consisting 44 adults, 2 children and 3 babies.
The flight took off from Sentani at 2:22 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Oksibil at about 3:16 p.m. Contact was lost with the aircraft at about 2:55 p.m. There was no indication that a distress call was made from the plane.
At 3:30 pm, BASARNAS, Indonesia national search and rescue agency, deployed a search aircraft through the same flight path, but was forced to return, following poor weather condition prevailing in the region.
The 27 year old aircraft registered PK-YRN was acquired by Trigana from American Trans State airline in 2005.
The airline has been in the European Union's list of banned airlines since 2007 due to safety reasons. Aircraft operated by Trigana Air have been involved in 14 serious incidents, 10 of which resulted in hull loss.
Age of Trigana's fleet of 14 aircraft averaged 26.6 years, which included seven ATR-42s, three ATR- 72s, three Boeing 737s and a Boeing 737 freighter.
Indonesia, which is famous for its poor aviation safety records, has all except four airlines operating in the country banned by European Union.
The last air crash involving, an AirAsia Airbus A320 in December 2014, killed the 162 onboard, after the aircraft plunged into the Java sea.
