An Indonesian domestic flight with 54 people on board lost contact with air traffic control in Papua province Sunday afternoon, the nation’s search and rescue agency said on Twitter.
The Trigana Air Service flight left Sentani Airport in Jayapura at 2:22 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Oksibil at about 3:16 p.m., officials said.
The plane lost contact at about 2:55 p.m., Transportation Ministry spokesman JA Barata told CNN Indonesia.
Barata said there was no indication that a distress call was made from the plane.
Barata said officials have not yet confirmed whether the plane crashed.
“A search was launched earlier today, but was called off because of bad weather, and it’s also now dark there,” the transportation ministry spokesman said.
Search-and-rescue official Ludi Yanto told CNN that efforts will include an air search and a ground search.
It’s unclear why the plane went missing. Officials said the weather was clear when the plane took off in Jayapura, but CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera said there were some thunderstorms over a mountainous area in the flight path.
And the weather could get worse in the coming days, possibly impeding search efforts.
“The terrain is going to be an issue as well, as we have some pretty steep slopes here,” Cabrera said.
