4 Aug 2009

Bad weather hampers search for missing plane in Papua

10:55 am on 4 August 2009

Bad weather has hampered the search for a Merpati Nusantara Airlines twin-otter plane, which went missing on Sunday in Indonesia's Papua province.

The plane was on its way from Oksibil, near Papua's border with PNG, to Sentani, in Papua's capital, Jayapura.

The Antara news agency quotes airport commander saying that the Jayapura military planned to deploy five small planes to search for the missing aircraft today.

But only one plane so far can do the job due to poor weather.

The plane had 11 passengers, two infants, and three crew.

The names of passengers and crew onboard the missing aircraft have been released.