Official says Indonesian plane was 'totally destroyed,' no one survived crash
Rescuers have recovered nearly all the bodies of the 54 people on board the Trigana Air Service plane that went down in a mountainous region of Indonesia Sunday.
"The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify," Bambang Soelistyo, head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told The Associated Press. "There is no chance anyone survived." The plane disappeared during bad weather a few minutes before it was scheduled to land in the city of Oksibil. A search plane spotted the wreckage in the Bintang Mountains district of the Papua province, and rescue crews arrived at the location Tuesday morning. Soelistyo said the wreckage was at an altitude of 2,600 meters, and rescuers had to overcome intense weather and rugged terrain to get to the crash site.
Officials said they have also found the black box, and the bodies will be sent to the capital of Papua province, Jayapura, for identification. The airline's crisis center spokesperson said all of the passengers were Indonesian, and included two members of the local parliament and three local government officials.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
81 things Donald Trump has said about women
The Explainer The former president has a long history of controversial remarks about the opposite sex
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Video games to play this fall, from 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 6' to 'Assassin's Creed Shadows'
The Week Recommends 'Assassin's Creed' goes to feudal Japan, and a remaster of horror classic 'Silent Hill 2' drops
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
'This is but one of a string of troubles confronting the agency'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-