An Indonesian passenger plane with 54 occupants has crashed

A passenger plane with 54 occupants that faced bad weather in eastern Indonesia on Sunday, August 25, disappeared from radar and hours later news of its crash was reported. According to Reuters and an Indonesian transportation ministry official, the wreckage of the crashed plane, which was referred to as a 'missing aircraft' earlier that day, was found in the late hours of the day in the 'Oktabe' district of Papua, Indonesia. According to AFP, the plane, owned by 'Trigana Air' of Indonesia, lost contact with air traffic control shortly before 3 PM local time after taking off from Jayapura, the capital of Papua province. Reports indicate that this twin-engine aircraft was carrying 44 adult passengers, five children, and five crew members. The plane was heading to 'Oksibil', a mountainous town in Papua province, and the flight was expected to last 45 minutes. AFP reports that the aircraft made contact with the control tower 10 minutes before it was supposed to arrive, but half an hour later there was still no news of the plane. Indonesian officials report that the current weather conditions in the area are 'very bad, dark, and cloudy', making search operations difficult. The head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency reports that as the plane approached 'Oksibil', the weather in the area was foggy with strong winds and heavy rain. On Wednesday, a Cessna plane from 'Kumala Air' also had an accident in Papua, resulting in one death and five serious injuries. In recent months, the region of Indonesia and Malaysia has witnessed several aviation accidents and disappearances of aircraft, including the incident on July 9, when a military cargo plane crashed into a residential area in one of the major cities of the country, killing at least 116 people. Prior to that, an AirAsia Airbus 320, which was heading from Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared.