Indonesian air force plane crashes in Papua killing 13: Official

Jakarta: An Indonesian military Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a mountain in the easternmost province of Papua, killing all 13 people board, a search and rescue agency official said on Sunday. 

The airforce transport plane had taken off from the city of Timika before crashing near its destination of Wamena at around 6.15 a.m. local time (2315 GMT), said Ivan Ahmad Riski Titus, operational director of Indonesia's Search and Rescue Agency.

The crash site on Lisuwa mountain had been found and the bodies of the victims were being brought back to Wamena, he said.

Though the exact reason of the crash is yet to be ascertained, the official said that bad weather is suspected to be the cause of the crash.

The plane was carrying food supplies from Timika to Wamena when it crashed Sunday, the official said.

Air transport is commonly used in remote and mountainous Papua, Indonesia`s easternmost province, where land travel is often impossible.

Indonesia has a patchy air safety record and President Joko Widodo promised a review of the country`s ageing air force fleet last year after a military transport plane crashed, killing more than 100 people.