Indonesian Rescuers Reach Crash Site, Find Plane Destroyed

More than 70 rescuers reached the crash site only on Tuesday after being hindered by rugged, forested terrain and bad weather.
Indonesian Rescuers Reach Crash Site, Find Plane Destroyed
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, soldiers prepare to leave for the crash site of an Indonesian passenger plane for rescue operations at an air base in Jayapura, Indonesia Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. Veri Sanovri/Xinhua via AP
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JAYAPURA, Indonesia—Rescuers on Tuesday reached the site in eastern Indonesia where a passenger plane slammed into a mountain over the weekend, killing all 54 people on board, and found that the aircraft had been destroyed, officials said.

More than 70 rescuers reached the crash site after being hindered by rugged, forested terrain and bad weather, said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, the National Search and Rescue Agency chief.

The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder — the plane’s “black boxes” — were found in good condition, Soelistyo said. The data they contain could help explain what caused the Trigana Air Service plane to crash Sunday.

“The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify,” Soelistyo told The Associated Press.

Officials and rescue workers gather by plane wreckage strewn across dense terrain in a remote area of Pegunungan Bintang, Papua province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. (AP Photo)
Officials and rescue workers gather by plane wreckage strewn across dense terrain in a remote area of Pegunungan Bintang, Papua province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. AP Photo