Eleven people were killed when their light plane crashed in Indonesia's mountainous Papua province, an airfield official said Sunday. Timika Air Base commander Easter Haryanto, who is co-ordinating search efforts, said rescue teams have reached the wreckage of the Mimika Air plane on a steep slope on Mount Gergaji.
"We confirm that all passengers and crew members are dead. The bodies are still in the plane and we hope to transfer them into body bags today and fly them to Ilaga Monday for identification," he added. The Mimika Air Pilatus Porter was en route from Ilaga to the remote highlands town of Kota Mulia with 11 people on board, including a child, when it crashed Friday. The secretary of the province's electoral commission as well as a number of other officials were on board the charter flight, which was carrying ballot papers from April 9 national elections.
Indonesia, which relies heavily on air links across the archipelago, has one of Asia's worst air safety records. The European Union banned all Indonesian-registered aircraft from flying over its airspace in 2007, acting on a report from the International Civil Aviation Organisation, which criticised the country's safety standards.