Indonesian plane with 13 on board goes missing, feared crashed

An Indonesian police plane carrying 13 people has gone missing. It actually is feared crashed.

The M28 Skytruck plane was on a short domestic flight and lost contact with air traffic control during what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour flight in western Indonesia.

“Fishermen found clothes, suitcases and air plane seats we fear belong to the plane,” national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told AFP.

The plane was on its way from Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Belitung province, to Batam in the Riau 

Islands.

An earlier police statement said the plane had set off at 9:24 am but that air traffic control lost contact with the plane at 10:15 am. It was carrying five crew and eight passengers.

Indonesia’s search and rescue team have been deployed and Singapore said it was also helping as the incident happened close to the city-state. Indonesia has a poor aviation safety record and has experienced several air disasters recently.

Last week, an Indonesian army helicopter crashed on Borneo island leaving three crew dead, while in November a cargo plane crashed in Papua region killing four.