News Digest

Probe begins: Indonesian search crews find bodies, black boxes of plane wreck

An Indonesian passenger plane that went missing two days ago was destroyed when it slammed into a mountain, killing all 54 people onboard, the country’s top rescue official said. Rescuers reached the crash site Tuesday only after being hindered by rugged, forested terrain and bad weather. Search and Rescue Agency Chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said that so far 53 bodies had been recovered and that they would be taken to Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, so they could be identified.

The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify. There is no chance anyone survived.

National Search and Rescue Agency Chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo told The Associated Press.

The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, the plane’s “black boxes,” were found in good condition, officials said. The recorders contain data on the plane’s operations and may give clues to the exact cause of the crash. Smoldering wreckage of the Trigana Air Service plane was spotted from the air Monday. The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was flying from Jayapura to the city of Oksibil when it lost contact. The plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew members on a scheduled 42-minute flight. Five children, including two infants, were among the passengers.