Five people have died in a plane crash in a remote area of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Photo: Scott Waide
Five people have died in a plane crash in a remote area of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.
The plane departed from Wasu airstrip and was reported missing by aviation authorities shortly after 11am local time on Sunday.
Jurgen Ruh, a local helicopter operator, along with PNG's deputy Prime Minister, John Rosso, located the crash site on Monday morning.
However, it took an additional day before rescue teams could reach the site.
"Our medical team finally managed to get to the crash site of P2-SAM, and our doctor has confirmed that there are no survivors," Jurgen Ruh said.
Deputy prime minister John Rosso said the crash site was at an altitude of about 8400-8500 feet (around 2560-2590 metres).
"Normally in terrain like this it takes days to locate the crash site," he said.
He said the weather had also prevented teams reaching the site on Monday afternoon.
"They needed a winch and a specialist aircraft becuase the location - there was no landing pad nearby, there was no village nearby; it was as I said earlier really really remote, really high."
An investigation is underway.
"From preliminary observations all perished in the initial impact and subsequent fire that followed the plane crash."
Rosso offered his condolences to the five people's families.
"The people on board - I knew them all personally."