Communication lost with charter plane
A charter plane carrying 13 people, including nine Australians, to a popular tourist site in Papua New Guinea vanished on its approach to an airport today, the airline and Australia's foreign minister said.
The twin-engine aircraft left the capital, Port Moresby, en route to an airport near the country's Kokoda Track, a mountainous 60-mile (100km) trail.
The plane's crew radioed air traffic controllers as it was approaching the airstrip, but the aircraft never landed, said Allen Tyson, a spokesman for Airlines PNG.
A search and rescue mission was immediately launched, he said.
The plane, carrying 11 passengers and two crew, had an emergency locator beacon but it was not transmitting, he added. No further information was immediately available.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that nine of the passengers on board were Australian. The trail is a popular destination for Australian tourists.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressed grave fears for the passengers' welfare.
"We are, of course, concerned for all of the passengers and the crew," he said in the country's parliament.
The Australian High Commission in Port Moresby was working with Papua New Guinean authorities to determine what happened to the plane, Mr Smith added.
Searchers were checking other small airstrips in the area to see if it had landed elsewhere, but poor weather conditions were hampering efforts, he said.
