Indonesia plane wreckage found

The wreckage of an Indonesian plane carrying 54 people has been found in the remote western Papua region, officials say.

The Trigana Air flight left the regional capital Jayapura for Oksibil in the south at 14:21 local time (05:21GMT), but lost contact with ground control.

Indonesia's transport minister said the aircraft had been found in the Bintang highlands region of Oksibil.

It is not yet known if anyone survived.

The wreckage was found by villagers, who told officials it had crashed into a mountain, AFP reports.

The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and infants, and five crew.

Mountainous

It took off from Sentani airport in Jayapura, but lost contact with ground control half an hour later at 14:55.

An official search was suspended due to poor light.

Oksibil, which is about 280km (175 miles) south of Jayapura, is a remote, mountainous region, which is extremely difficult to navigate.

Bad weather is believed to have been a possible reason for the crash.

A second plane, which had been sent to look for the missing one, was forced to turn back because of dangerous flying conditions.

Trigana Air has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, losing 10 aircraft in the process, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

It has been on a European Union blacklist of banned carriers since 2007. All but four of Indonesia's certified airlines are on the list.