JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AFP) - An Indonesian passenger plane that crashed at the weekend in Papua was transporting about 6.5 billion rupiah (S$650,000) in cash to distribute to poor families in the eastern province, a post office official said on Monday.
"Four of our personnel were escorting the funds," said Haryono, the head of Jayapura post office, who goes by one name. The money was in four bags, he added.
Rescuers on Monday headed to the site in remote eastern Indonesia where debris has been spotted after a Trigana Air plane crashed with 54 people aboard at the weekend, the latest accident to hit the country's aviation sector.
The plane lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday afternoon during a short flight in bad weather from Jayapura, capital of Papua province. Read more here.
The ATR 42-300 twin-turboprop plane was carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and five crew on the flight which was scheduled to take about 45 minutes.
But the plane disappeared about 10 minutes before reaching its destination Oksibil, a remote settlement in the mountains south of Jayapura, shortly after it asked permission to start descending to land.
