Jakarta: A Trigana Air plane that went missing with 54 people on board on Sunday crashed in Indonesia's eastern Papua region, a transport ministry official said.

Earlier, media cited Trigana Operations Director Beni Sumaryanto as saying there had been reports of a crash from a village in the forested and mountainous district of Oksibil, adding that search teams would check that area in the morning.

The Indonesian domestic passenger aircraft carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday in the remote eastern Papua region, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said.

‘Lost contact with plane,’ BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelystyo told Reuters by phone.

According to the official BASARNAS Twitter account, the aircraft belonging to Trigana Air Service was carrying 44 adult passengers, five crew and five children and infants.