A plane carrying 48 people went off the runway in Indonesia’s remote eastern district of Papua on Monday, hurting several passengers, authorities said.
The Southeast Asian archipelago has a dismal aviation safety record, and Papua’s rugged geography makes flying difficult due to frequent bad weather.
On Monday morning, Trigana Air’s ATR-42 aircraft went off the runway as it took off from an airstrip in the remote Yapen Islands regency for the Papuan capital Jayapura.
The flight was carrying 42 passengers, including a baby, and six staff 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.”
According to a statement from the local search and rescue organisation, the incident hurt and frightened some passengers.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its dozens of islands, but Papua is particularly difficult to access.
In 2015, a Trigana Air plane crashed there, killing all 54 passengers aboard.
