Indonesia plane crashes with 18 people

Indonesia plane crashes with 18 people

Government officials say a plane carrying 18 people has crashed in a mountainous region of western Indonesia.

This happened on Thursday while the plane, which was carrying 14 adults and four children, was on a local flight in the west of the country.

The Crash

A transportation ministry spokesman, Bambang Ervan said the plane was about halfway through its 30-minute flight between North Sumatra and Aceh provinces when it lost contact with air traffic control.

An Air Force marshal, Bonar Hutagaol told the local station TVOne that minutes later, the turboprop-powered plane sent out a distress signal and then dropped off the Air Force radar.

The head of the local search and rescue team said residents reported it had crashed near their mountainous village of Bahorok and that they had seen smoke coming from the wreckage.

A villager in Langkat district, Agus told TVOne that "I saw something unusual, a smoking plane circling very low before it disappeared from my view."

Safety record

Although Indonesia relies heavily on air transport, it has a poor aviation record.

In May this year, 27 people died when an Indonesian passenger plane crashed into the sea off the eastern province of West Papua.

BBC/ Aljazeera/Grace/Ekata