38 bodies found at Indonesian plane crash site: Official

JAYAPURA (Indonesia) (Agency) : Thirty-eight bodies have been found at the site in remote eastern Indonesia where a plane crashed at the weekend, the transport ministry said."Thirty-eight bodies — 37 adults and a child — have been found at the crash site," transport ministry spokesman J A Barata told AFP. "We are unable to evacuate them as the weather is very bad." Indonesian rescue workers have reached the crash site of a passenger plane that went down in a mountainous area with 54 people on board, a senior official said Tuesday.The teams on the ground have so far seen at least 38 bodies at the scene and haven't found any survivors, said Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency.Helicopters are being deployed to the densely forested area in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua to begin the evacuation process, he said.The airliner, operated by the Indonesian carrier Trigana Air Service, lost contact with air traffic control Sunday about half an hour into a short flight from the provincial capital to a town in the mountains.Search planes spotted debris on



a mountainside Monday, but efforts to try to reach it on foot and by helicopter were suspended until Tuesday because of fog.There was no indication that a distress call was made from Trigana's ATR 42-300 turboprop aircraft before it lost contact Sunday, Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesman J.A. Barata told CNN Indonesia.There are many possible reasons for the apparent lack of a distress call, CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo said. It could indicate that crew members were too busy dealing with whatever situation arose to send one, or that they didn't realize they were in trouble, she said.Villagers reported seeing a plane crash into a mountain, according to Indonesian aviation authorities. The site is about 14 kilometers (9 miles) from the airport where the plane was supposed to land, search officials said.The plane was carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and five crew members when it went missing on the flight between Jayapura, the provincial capital, and Oksibil, an inland town near the border with Papua New Guinea.
All those on board were Indonesian, authorities said.