Medan, Indonesia - A small plane on a local flight in western Indonesia crashed in a mountainous area on Thursday and 18 people on board were presumed dead, officials said. Difficult terrain and rain hampered researchers are trying to reach the wreck.The Spanish-designed CASA C-212 was about half of its 30-minute flight from northern Sumatra and Aceh, where he lost contact with air traffic control, said the spokesman Ministry of Transport Bambang Ervan.
A few minutes later, the power turboprop sent a distress signal, and then deposited the radar, Hutagaol Bonar, a Marshal of the Air Force, TVOne said.
"I saw something strange," Agus, a witness told the station. "A plane circling low smoke before it disappeared from my view."
The ruins of the air - spotted during aerial photography near the mountain village of Bahorok - seemed to be largely intact, the wings still time to frame, Ervan said. There was no evidence of 14 passengers and four crew members, he said.
Supra Sinaga, head of the local search and rescue team, said it could take hours to arrive because of torrential rains and steep, rocky terrain.
The plane, manufactured in Indonesia in 1989, was last inspected on 22 September, said Robur Rizallianto, an official with the owner, PT Buana Nusantara Air. He was in good condition, he said, and a check on Thursday ahead of the launch was also discussed clean.
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of 240 million people, has been plagued by transport accidents in recent years, from aircraft accidents and train wrecks of the ferry. Many are assigned to safety standards overcrowding and poor.
