12 Aug 2009

PNG plane crash kills all 13 onboard

4:55 pm on 12 August 2009

Rescuers have reached the wreckage of a passenger aircraft that crashed in Papua New Guinea and found no survivors among the 13 passengers and crew.

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.

It was carrying nine Australian tourists, three Papua New Guineans and a Japanese traveller.

The Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has told parliament that PNG authorities have concluded that there were no survivors from the crash.