The crashed plane was carrying 420,000 euros for poor families

Rescue teams on Monday were making their way through a remote mountain area of Indonesia where wreckage of the ATR 42 plane with 54 passengers and crew members was spotted, a plane that was carrying 420,000 euros in cash, reports the Patria News Agency.

This is the third plane crash in less than a year in this Southeast Asian country which has problems with air traffic safety.

The aircraft of the Indonesian company Trigana Air lost contact with the control tower on Sunday afternoon while flying from Jayapura, the capital of the eastern province of Papua, to Oksibil, almost 300 km to the south, during stormy weather.

The money, in four bags, was from public funds, and postal workers were carrying it for poor families in the Papua province, said Haryono, the director of the post office in Jayapura who, like many Indonesians, has only a surname.

The aircraft disappeared from radar screens about ten minutes before arriving in Oksibil, an inaccessible mountainous area, shortly after requesting permission to descend before landing.

Another plane was sent to the crash site for reconnaissance while rescue teams were making their way on foot through the densely forested mountain, according to the search and rescue agency, which stated that the plane spotted the wreckage.

Air Trigana, a small company founded in 1991 that operates about forty domestic flights, is banned from flying in the European Union. The company has had 14 accidents since its inception, according to the air safety agency, Hina reports.