38 bodies found at Indonesian plane crash site: official

But transport ministry unable to evacuate bodies due to bad weather

Thirty-eight bodies have been found at the site in remote eastern Indonesia where a plane crashed at the weekend, the transport ministry said.

"Thirty-eight bodies -- 37 adults and a child -- have been found at the crash site," transport ministry spokesman J A Barata told AFP.

"We are unable to evacuate them as the weather is very bad," he added.

The plane operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana Air lost had contact with air traffic control on Sunday afternoon in bad weather on a short flight from Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.

The ATR 42-300 twin-turboprop plane was carrying 49 passengers and five crew on the journey to Oksibil, a remote settlement in the mountains to the south of Jayapura.