Rescuers search for victims of the crashed aircraft at Menuk mountain in Oksibil, Papua, Indonesia, on Sunday
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A 12-year-old boy is the only survivor from the crash of a light commercial plane in a mountainous region of Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua that left eight other passengers dead, rescuers said on Sunday.
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The plane operated by Dimonin Air was reported missing on Saturday during a 45-minute flight from Tanah Merah in Boven Digul district to Oksibil, the district capital of Pegunungan Bintang, bordering Papua New Guinea.
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The local army chief said on Sunday the plane had crashed near Oksibil airport. He said the boy was the only passenger found alive and was evacuated to the Oksibil hospital. A statement from the army said the boy was conscious but gave no other details.
Local police chief Michael Mumbunan said the plane with two pilots and seven passengers aboard lost contact after communicating with the control tower in Oksibil just before it was due to land on Saturday afternoon.
The cause of the crash was not clear.
Airplanes are the only practical way of accessing many areas in the mountainous and jungle-clad easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua.
[CORRECTION: the news agency report on which we based this article originally said the plane was a PC-6 Porter made by Swiss manufacturer Pilatus. In fact the make of the plane is not known.]
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