Search underway as plane vanishes before landing in Indonesia

There are fears for passengers and crew on board a light aircraft that vanished before it was due to land in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua.

The Dimonim Air plane with two pilots and seven passengers on board, including a child, was on a short commercial flight from Tanah Merah in Boven Digul district to Oksibil, near the border with Papua New Guinea.

The Pilatus PC-6 Porter lost contact with the control tower in Oksibil shortly before it was due to land on Saturday afternoon local time, reports news.com.au.

Bintang regency police chief Michael Mumbunan said a search and rescue mission was underway after villagers in nearby Okatem heard loud noises and an explosion.

"Villagers in Okatem reported that they heard a loud roar from the plane followed by a big



explosion," he told AFP.

He said it could take hours to find a possible crash site in the mountainous region as rescuers were searching by foot.

A passenger manifest has revealed a child was among the seven passengers on the missing flight, which was meant to take only about 42 minutes.

Dimonim Air is a private company that operates charter flights around Papua.

According to AP, flying is a necessary way to travel through the mountainous and jungle-clad provinces of Papua and West Papua, however the region has been plagued with a recent bad history of transport accidents due to overcrowding, ageing infrastructure and poorly enforced safety standards.

In July last year, five people were killed when a small plane crashed near Wamena in Papua.