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escuers have located the plane belonging to Merpati Nusantara Airlines, which disappeared in Papua province two days ago, but were unable to reach the crash site due to bad weather on Tuesday.

The second day of the search for the ill-fated Twin Otter PK-NVC, that was carrying 16 people, was stopped at around 4 p.m. local time amid bad weather in Pegunungan Bintang regency, a rescue team member said.

The eight-strong team flew in by helicopter, piloted by Kim Kwang Su and co-piloted by Jung Yeon Woo, from Sentani, the main airport in the Papua provincial capital of Jayapura, at around 11:20 a.m.

"The weather surrounding the area where the plane is located was bad, so the helicopter could not approach the location," rescue team chief Col. Suwandi Miharja told a press conference in Jayapura.

"The helicopter flew to Oksibil Airport and will stay overnight there. The rescue and evacuation will hopefully resume at around 06:00 a.m.," he added.

The plane went missing on its way from Sentani to Oksibil Airport in Pegunungan Bintang regency.

Suwandi, who is also the Jayapura Airbase commander, said the fate of the plane's 16 passengers and crew members was still unknown. The crash site is located three nautical miles from the airstrip in the Amphisibil area, Pegunungan Bintang, and was spotted by rescuers at around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

"Based on a report from the helicopter pilot, Eric Douglas, only the plane's tail was able to be seen from the air," Suwandi said.

Rescuers are planning to evacuate all the passengers to Oksibil Airport, which is some 20 nautical miles from the scene, and from there, they will be flown to Jayapura, he said.

Local authorities also deployed a land rescue team to the crash site. This team, consisting of one police and six military officers along with 10 local volunteers, had been dispatched from Okbibal district.

Separately, Merpati Nusantara Airlines said Tuesday it would cover the medical and insurance costs for all passengers on board the Twin Otter plane.

"Merpati is responsible for the safety of all the passengers on board the plane - whether their names are on the manifest or not," the company's chief commissioner Muhammad Said Didu told journalists at Sentani Airport. Merpati president director Bambang Bhakti was also present.

"We still hope all the passengers are safe," Said added.

Earlier, Merpati spokesman Sukandi said the company was still waiting for accurate information on the identities of the passengers to avoid mistakes.