12 Aug 2009

PNG plane wreckage found

12:11 pm on 12 August 2009

Rescuers have found the wreckage of a passenger aircraft that crashed in Papua New Guinea, but it's unclear if any of the 13 passengers on board survived.

The Airlines PNG De Havilland Twin Otter 300 with 11 passengers and two crew went missing over thickly forested mountains on Tuesday during a flight from the capital Port Moresby to the tourist destination of Kokoda.

PNG's Civil Aviation Authority head, Joseph Kintau, says the wreckage has been located but he has no other information.

The plane was carrying nine Australians, one Japanese and three Papua New Guineans.

The were reportedly planning to walk the famed track, starting at Kokoda.