The Jakarta Post
Search and rescue workers managed to reach the crash site of a Merpati airlines plane in a mountainous part of Papua province Wednesday, to find all 16 people on board dead. Merpati Nusantara Airlines president director Bambang Bhakti said the land rescue team and local residents had arrived at the scene of the crash in hilly terrain 5.5 kilometers south of Amisibil district in Pegunungan Bintang regency, at an altitude of 2,800 meters. "Reports from local residents and the land rescue team indicate the plane had been completely destroyed," Bambang said at Sentani Airport in Jayapura, Papua, shortly before flying back to Jakarta. "None of the passengers or crew were found alive." Pegunungan Bintang legislative council speaker Costan Oktemka confirmed all the people aboard the ill-fated plane had died. The Twin Otter plane was reported missing on Sunday, on a flig...