The plane had been listed as missing until wreckage was recently found after an exhaustive search. The plane went down over the jungle region of Papua, close to the border of Papua New Guinea.

Search and rescue teams are finding it difficult to land in the area by helicopter as the jungle is very dense. However, there is little hope that any of the crew or passengers which included two babies will be found alive.

The Merpanti Nusantara Airlines Plane went missing on Sunday on a flight from Jayapura to Oksibil. The tail was finally spotted three days later.

The airborne search team spotted wreckage near Ampisibil village in Bintang Mountains. It was at a heigh of 2850 metres. The crash was only 23 miles from their planned destination of Oksibil.

Indonesia has one of the worst safety records for air travel in the world. They had only recently been removed from a European commission list that disallowed any planes from Indonesia to land EU territory because of safety concerns. Air accidents are quite common in Indonesia. Many are angered by this and cite that maintaining safety regulations is difficult in a country with rampant corruption.