OKSIBIL, Indonesia, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The Trigana Air Service ATR 42-300 plane that crashed in Indonesia's Papua province was carrying about $470,000 worth of aid for locals.
Indonesian search and rescue teams on Monday are attempting to reach the crash site of the downed plane, but are being slowed by weather conditions.
The plane crashed in a rugged, mountainous region at an altitude of about 8,500 feet, which makes reaching the plane difficult. Aboard the aircraft were 44 adults, five children and five crew members -- all of whom were Indonesian.
Indonesian authorities confirmed that four bags containing about 6.5 billion rupiah, or $471,500, were also aboard.
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The plane was traveling domestically on Sunday between the Jayapura-Sentani Airport and Oksibil Airport in Indonesia's Papua province, bordering Papua New Guinea.
The double-propeller plane crashed about seven miles away from its destination. Contact with the airplane was lost at 2:55 p.m. local time after taking off from 34 minutes prior from Jayapura, the regional capital.
Search and rescue teams are attempting to reach the site by air and on ground, but have not yet succeeded. The crash site was first spotted by villagers in surrounding areas.
"Smoke was still billowing from the wreckage when it was spotted by a plane search," Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said, according to USA Today.
The plane took its first flight 27 years ago.
Trigana Air Service has had 14 serious incidents, where 10 planes have been lost, since operations began in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The carrier was added to a list of airlines banned in the European Union in 2007.
