RESCUERS ARRIVE AT PLANE CRASH SITE IN PAPUA PROVINCE

Jayapura, April 20 (ANTARA) - The six-member rescue team has successfully arrived in the location of an ill-fated Mimika Air which crashed in a mount Gergaji area during a flight from Ilaga to Mulia in Papua on Friday morning.

Deputy head of Puncak Jaya district, Hanock Ibo, when contacted from Jayapura on Sunday said that the six members of the rescue team had been in the location but evacuation could not yet be carried out because of bad weather.
Besides the rescue team, a helicopter belonging to PT Freeport has also arrived in the location, according to Ibo.
Mimika Air, which was flown by Pilot Nan Linn Aung of Myanmar and Co-pilot Makmur of Indonesia carried nine passengers from Ilaga, capital town of Puncak district, to Mulia, capital of Puncak Jaya district.
Puncak district is a new district which is a result of a regional re-division of Puncak Jaya district, in Papua province.
The passengers were Marthen Jitmau (secretary of the Puncak Jaya General Elections Commission/KPU), Rev. Melkias Kiwak, Herman Snanfi (chairman of the Puncak Jaya general elections supervisory board), Willem Mayau, Lasarus Wonda, Ruben Murib, Temina Murib and two children whose identities were still unknown.
In 2006, a Trigana plane with nine passengers on board, felt down around Mount Gergaji, Papua.
On April 9 this year, six people were killed when a cargo plane carrying essential food supplies crashed in poor weather after aborting an attempt to land in Wamena in Papua Province.
In January 2008, an Aviastar Twin Otter crashed in Paniai district, Papua, after it skidded off the runway of Sugapa Airport, killing one of its 15 passengers. In February 2005, 14 people died after a Cassa 212 plane belonging to the National Police went down in Mararena River in Jayapura, Papua Province