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Indonesia finds wreckage of military plane


    JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities have found the wreckage of a military plane with 18 people on board, including three foreigners, that crashed in a dense forest in West Java, an air force official said on Friday.

    The plane, which was flying from the capital Jakarta toBogor in West Java, went missing on Thursday. It had 12military personnel and six civilians on board, including oneBriton, one Singaporean and one Indian.

    A small air force plane has identified the location of theplane crash and seen bodies scattered around the area, butcould not get closer to the wreckage because of bad weather,Air Marshal Gusti Made Oka, the deputy air force chief, toldlocal radio Elshinta.

    "Our pilot had checked the location, and he saw the debrisfrom afar," Oka said.

    He said a rescue team was trying to reach the wreckage, butit was a steep climb up a mountain and rescuers hoped to arrivelater on Friday.

    An official had earlier said the plane had set out to testa digital mapping camera. Indonesian air carriers have been hitby several crashes and safety incidents in recent years, andthe country's airlines are currently banned by the EuropeanUnion. (Reporting by Telly Nathalia and Olivia Rondonuwu,Editing by Sugita Katyal)