Indonesia: Plane skid on runway injured many people

• A Trigana Air ATR-42 plane with 48 passengers crashed in Papua, Indonesia, injuring several.
• The accident occurred in the remote eastern region of Papua, a region with a poor aviation safety record.
• The incident is being investigated and coordinated to prevent similar incidents in the future.

On Monday, a plane with 48 people aboard skidded off the runway in Indonesia’s remote eastern region of Papua, injuring several passengers, according to police. The Southeast Asian archipelago has a poor aviation safety record, and Papua’s mountainous terrain and frequent poor weather conditions complicate flying.

On Monday morning, the ATR-42 aircraft belonging to Trigana Air skidded off the runway while taking off from an airport in the remote Yapen Islands regency en route to the Papuan capital, Jayapura. The flight carried 42 passengers, including a baby, and six crew members.

“Praise God everybody survived and has been taken to a hospital for a health checkup,” local police Chief Ardyan Ukie Hercahyo said in a statement.

“We are investigating the incident and coordinating with related parties to ensure this will never happen again.”

The local search and rescue agency stated that some passengers were injured and traumatized by the incident. Indonesia depends heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands, but reaching Papua is particularly challenging. In 2015, a Trigana Air plane crashed in the region, killing all 54 people on board.

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