*JAKARTA – A 12-year-old boy is the sole survivor of a plane crash thatkilled eight people in mountainous eastern Indonesia, authorities saidSunday.*
The Swiss-made Pilatus aircraft lost contact with air traffic controlSaturday during what was supposed to be a flight of around 40 minutes inremote Papua province.
The wreckage of the plane was found in a heavily forested area on amountain side in the Oksibil subdistrict on Sunday morning.
“Eight passengers were found dead and one was found alive,” Papua militaryspokesman Lieutenant colonel Dax Sianturi said.
“At the moment the cause of the crash has not been confirmed,” he told AFP,adding an investigation would be carried out by the national transportationsafety committee.
The plane, which was owned by private charter company Dimonim Air, wascarrying seven passengers and two crew.
Before the accident, villagers in nearby Okatem reported hearing a loudroar followed by an explosion.
Search and rescue teams walked two hours to reach the crash site and werestill recovering the bodies late morning.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands ofislands but has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered severalfatal crashes in recent years.
Papua is a particularly difficult area to reach.
Five people died after a small plane crashed near Wamena in Papua provincein July last year.
In August 2015, a commercial passenger aircraft operated by Indonesiancarrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 peopleon board. – APP/AFP