Indonesia Plane Crash August 2015 Latest News: Debris of lost plane with 54 passengers on board spotted
The remains believed to have been from the Indonesian airliner, which was missing Sunday after it crashed with 54 people on board, have been spotted by a search plane in the Oktabe district of Papua province on Monday.
Suprasetyo, Indonesia's director general of air transportation said details are still being verified, but several villagers said they saw a plane crash into a mountainside.
The rescue teams that put their searches on hold will once again resume aerial and ground searches to confirm the reports provided by villagers.
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Reports say six aircrafts have been dispatched to help with the search for the plane that lost contact with air traffic control in Papua province on Sunday afternoon.
Transportation Ministry spokesman J.A. Barata said the airliner left Sentani Airport in Jayapura at approximately 2:22 p.m. and was scheduled to make its landing in Oksibil at about 3:16 p.m. By 2:55 p.m., the plane lost contact.
There was no distress call made from the plane, and local officials only received reports on Sunday afternoon that villagers have spotted a plane crash.
Aviation analyst Mary Schiavo said there are several possible reasons as to why there was no distress call. Crew members may have been too busy dealing with the situation that they lacked time to send a call for help.
Schiavo also said another reason could be because the crew simply failed to realize that trouble was at hand.
Local officials said the weather was just fine when the plane took off, but CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera said there were several thunderstorms starting to form over a mountainous area on the plane's path.
Later on Monday, CNN reported that debris believed to be from the missing airliner were spotted by a search plane, according to Indonesia's national news agency, Antara. Meanwhile, a second rescue plane was sent out to verify the remains found in the eastern province.
