A search plane has spotted the wreckage of an Indonesian passenger plane that went missing with 54 people on board, rescue officials said this morning.

It is believed that there may be no survivors from the crash, which happened in bad weather on Sunday in Indonesia’s mountainous easternmost province of Papua.

An Associated Press report said: “The Trigana Air Service plane was flying from Papua’s provincial capital, Jayapura, to the Papua city of Oksibil when it lost contact with Oksibil’s airport. Transportation Ministry spokesman Julius Barata said there was no indication that the pilot had made a distress call.

“Officials said the wreckage was spotted about 12 kilometres (7 miles) from Oksibil, and Henry Bambang Soelistyo, the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said search and rescue teams were preparing to try to reach the crash site by air and foot.

“The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew members on a scheduled 42-minute journey. Five children, including two infants, were among the passengers.”

Local media reports said all the passengers are Indonesians. The airline has not released a passenger manifest.

The report said that Oksibil, which is 280 kilometres (175 miles) south of Jayapura, was experiencing heavy rain, strong winds and fog when the plane lost contact with the airport minutes before it was scheduled to land.

Much of Papua is covered with impenetrable jungles and mountains. Some planes that have crashed in the past have never been found, AP reported.

•File photo shows debris of a crashed plane.