Rescue teams travel to area of Indonesia plane crash

(Vatican Radio) Indonesian rescue teams are making their way to a remote area of Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua after a plane went missing yesterday with 54 people on board.

Lydia O’Kane reports. Listen

An area near the city Oksibil is where residents reported seeing a plane flying low before watch it crash into a mountain.  A plane search following  the sighting revealed that smoke was billowing from the wreckage.

There are still few details about what actually happened to the Trigana Air Service flight, but what is known is that the plane took off on Sunday from Papua's provincial capital, Jayapura.

It was bound for Oksibil when it lost contact with air traffick control.

Indonesia’s Air Transportation Director General, is Suprasetyo.

The plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew. There were also five children and two infants on board. All the passengers were from Indonesia.

Bad weather and the rugged terrain of Papua have been hampering efforts to reach the wreckage located in a mountainous area

Via Twitter the Indonesian President expressed his condolences and called for prayers for the victims.

In recent years Indonesia has had a number of airline disasters.

In December 2014 162 people died when an AirAsia aircraft crashed into the Java Sea in stormy weather.