Rescuers find 54 dead after finally reaching wreckage of horror plane crash in Indonesia

The Trigana Air Service plane (not pictured) was destroyed in the crash

INDONESIAN rescuers have recovered all 54 bodies from the wreckage of a passenger plane that was destroyed when it crashed into a mountain late last week.

 

Rescue teams reached the wreckage site in a remote region of Indonesia today – two days after the horror smash.

The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify

Henry Bambang Soelistyo

 

Rescue teams reached the wreckage site today

 

Much of Papua is covered with jungles and mountains

Search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said: "The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify.

"There is no chance anyone survived."

The bodies will be taken to Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, to be identified.

The plane was flying from Jayapura to Oksibil when it lost contact with the city's airport amid heavy rain, strong winds and fog.

 

Much of Papua is covered with jungles and mountains – and some planes have never been found after crashing there.

But smoldering wreckage of the Trigana Air Service jet was spotted from the air on Monday.

The 49 passengers on board were all Indonesian and included five children, three local government officials and two members of local parliament.

Four postal workers were also on the plane, escorting four bags of cash totalling £300,000.

The money was government aid to be handed out to poor families hit by a recent fuel crisis.

All five crew members were also killed.

 

Indonesia has had a string of airline tragedies in recent years.

In December, all 162 people aboard an AirAsia jet were killed when the plane plummeted into the Java Sea.

It had been flying through stormy weather on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, to Singapore.

And from 2007 to 2009, the European Union barred Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe over safety concerns.

Trigana Air Service remains banned from flying to the continent along with other six Indonesian airlines.