Search and rescue teams are still searching for a Merpati Nusantara turboprop aircraft that went missing on Sunday while on a domestic flight over the Papua region.
The missing aircraft is a 30-year old de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter with the Indonesian registration PK-NVC, says a company official. It was on a flight between Jayapura on the northern Papua coast and Oksibil, in the island's mountainous centre.
"The teams had to temporarily call off the search today due to cloudy weather but it will resume it as soon as possible," says a company official.
He adds that there were three crew members and 12 passengers, including two infants, on board the aircraft.
Flight's ACAS database lists the carrier as owning nine DHC-6s. Indonesian airlines, including Merpati Nusantara, remain largely blacklisted by the European Commission despite the lifting of restrictions on four carriers last month.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
