The missing aircraft, photographed in 2008

A search plane has sighted what is believed to be the wreckage from a Trigana Air flight which went missing on Sunday evening.

The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was carrying 44 adults, five children and five crew members but disappeared from radar over the remote region of Papua.

All those on board are believed to be Indonesian

There was no immediate word on whether there were any survivors from the crash.

Officials said the wreckage was spotted about seven miles from Oksibil.

The flight took off from Sentani Airport in Papua’s provincial capital of Jayapura after 14:00 local time en route to the city of Oksibil.

Reports suggest the aircraft came down in bad weather as it approached to land.

Trigana is a small regional carrier based in Jakarta.