Twotter Timika

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SMALL PLANE CRASHES IN PAPUA

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (RNZI, April 12) – Police in the Indonesian province of Papua say a twin engine passenger plane with 18 people aboard has crashed and search parties are still looking for crash wreckage and any survivors. The 19-seater DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop lost contact with the air traffic tower less then ten minutes after takeoff from the town of Timika. The plane carrying 14 adults, one baby and three crew was bound for the central plateau village of Enarotali.

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Does anyone have any information on whose aircraft this was?

[bfd777]

Just got a few more tidbits of info:
A twin-engine passenger plane with 18 people aboard has crashed in West Papua province, officials said.

The 19-seat deHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop crashed during a flight along the mountainous interior of Indonesia's largest province, which shares New Guinea island with Papua New Guinea, police said.

"We lost contact with the plane carrying 14 adult passengers, a baby and three crew members, and now we are searching the location of the crash," Timika Police Chief Lieutenant Colonel Paulus Waterpau said.

The Canadian-built plane operated by GT Air - a regional airline owned by the local administration - was on its way to the airstrip at the village of Enarotali in the central highlands, he said.

On February 23, a Twin Otter struck a fence while landing at the same airstrip, causing extensive wing damage but no casualties.

Two days earlier, a police transport plane crashed into the sea while trying to land at another airport in the eastern province, killing 15 people and injuring three.