After a long trek through the foggy mountain forest, the rescuers on Tuesday reached the crash site of the Indonesian plane that went missing over the weekend. The black box of the aircraft has been found but there were no survivors.
Slightly covered by trees, bodies and debris lay on the ground. None of the 54 Indonesians on board survived the Trigana Air Service flight. The remains have been put in body bags, Aljazzeera reported.
Helicopters have been deployed to the remote area in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua to begin the evacuation process, CNN reported.
The wreckage of the aircraft was spotted by the locals of Bintang Highlands Region. The flight left Sentani airport in Jayapura, Indonesia at 2:21 pm on Sunday, going to the town of Oksibil. After an hour and a half, the plane lost contact, The Guardian reported.
According to Indonesian Director-General for Air Transportation, Susprasetyo, Tangok Mountain villagers witnessed the plane crash and rushed to report the incident. Immediate search and rescue plans were difficult to pursue due to bad weather conditions.
Aside from its passengers and crew, the plane was carrying an estimated $500,000 to be given to around 6,000 impoverished residents on the celebration of Indonesia's independence.
Trigana Airlines has recorded 14 grave incidents since it started its operations in 1991. The company has lost ten planes since its inception, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The European Union has blacklisted the airline company since 2007.
This most recent crash was one of several aerial tragedies have occurred in Indonesia in recent years. In December 2014, 192 people died when an AirAsia flight crashed in the Java Sea. In July, a military transport plane fell in a residential area in Medan, Sumatra claiming 140 lives.
