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plane operated by state-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines went missing Sunday in a mountainous jungle region of Papua, carrying 16 people, officials said.

The Twin Otter aircraft lost contact with the monitoring tower and officials on the ground while flying between Jayapura and Oksibil in Pegunungan Bintang regency, they added.

Suparno, head of flight safety at Sentani airport in Jayapura, said the ill-fated plane took off from his airport at around 10:15 a.m. local time, on its way to the Oksibil airport, near the border with Papua New Guinea.

But around 13 minutes later the aircraft lost contact, as it flew at a height of 2,895 meters, he added. It should have arrived at Oksibil at around 11:05 a.m.

Operational director of PT Merpati, Capt. Nikmatullah, confirmed the plane's disappearance.

"After taking off the aircraft didn't make any contact with the monitoring tower," he told Antara.

"We immediately sent another Twin Otter plane to search for the missing aircraft along several flight lanes on the Jayapura-Oksibil route," he said.

Nikmatullah said the Twin Otter plane was on a routine, twice-daily flight.

"Before taking off, the plane had undergone a routine airworthiness check and was fully fuelled, enabling it to fly for a 3.5 hours, although it only takes 55 minutes fly this route.

"So, actually there is no problem with its airworthiness. But we will check again in more detail," he said.

Nikmatullah said pilot Frans Noble and co-pilot Dedi Sudrahat, a mechanic, 11 adult passengers and two babies were onboard the flight.

Among the identified passengers on board were Lauren, Yustinus, Simio, Yohanes, Basilius, Edy, Yanes, Yacob, Supiadi, Marthina, Nelvina, and two babies: Nutulo and Oliver.

Local resident Martha, a family member of two passengers on board the plane, said Marthina's husband called her at around 11 a.m. asking if his wife and his child had arrived in Oksibil.

But at 3 p.m. the plane had still not landed, Martha added.

"Officials at the Oksibil airport then looked for information from airstrips in Pegunungan Bintang to find out if any planes had made an emergency landing there. But no one had seen the plane," she said.

Local authorities said they would start a land and air search operation at first light on Monday.

Commander of the Jayapura airbase, Col. Suwandi Miharja, told Antara his office was preparing a team and five aircraft for the air search operation.

Aircraft is just about the only way to travel around Papua, much of which is covered with impenetrable jungle and insurmountable mountains. Many planes that have crashed in the province in the past have never been found.

Since its founding in 1971, Merpati has seen at least 10 of its planes crash, according to AirDisaster.com. The last crash, in Surabaya on March 26, 2001, involved a Fokker F-27 500F. The instructor and two student pilots aboard were killed.

Indonesia, a nation of more than 18,000 islands, has seen a string of air crashes in recent years.

In 2007, the European Union banned all Indonesian carriers from flying in its airspace.