(USATODAY) — A crash site was found Sunday after an Indonesian airliner with 54 people aboard lost contact with air traffic control over a remote, mountainous area in bad weather, Indonesian officials said.
Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo confirmed the plane was found by villagers who said it crashed into a mountain in Papua, the nation’s largest and most eastern province. The fate of the 49 passengers — including five children — and crew of five was not immediately known, he said.
“Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain,” Suprasetyo said.
The crash was third catastrophe for the Southeast Asian nation’s beleaguered air transportation system in less than a year.
