Twenty eight passengers have been killed on an aircraft that crashed in stormy weather in northern Papua New Guinea. Four people survived, including the two pilots, when the Airlines PNG Dash-8 went down in dense forest about 20km south of Madang.
Most of the passengers on board the twin-prop aircraft were believed to be families travelling to attend a graduation ceremony for Madang university students. The Australian High Commission’s warden in Madang, Trevor Hattersley, said the aircraft had crashed in a remote jungle near the coast in poor weather conditions.
“The weather was horrendous,” he told the Associated Press news agency. “There was a huge storm that came through at the same time – big rain, big wind.”
Papua New Guinea’s Accident Investigation Commission said it was investigating the cause of the crash. Airlines PNG said it had grounded its fleet of 12 Dash-8 aircraft until further notice.