**A passenger aircraft carrying more than 100 people has crashed on landing in the Indonesian province of Papua.**At least 20 people were injured when the Boeing 737 Merpati Nusantara Airline plane veered off the end of the runway into a river and broke in half.
Officials said heavy rain may have caused the crash but that the pilots had followed safety regulations.
Indonesia relies heavily on air travel but has one of the worst aviation safety records in Asia.
Passenger Zainal Hayat, 52, said the plan had flown safely but “just didn’t stop” when it touched down.
“It skidded very fast and I felt it hit something twice before it stopped and tumbled down,” he said.
“All the passengers were in a total panic, some even screamed and cried.”
Indonesia’s director general of civil aviation said the plane had come to a halt with its tail section in a small river, about 200m (220 yards) from the runway.
Herry Bhakti Singayuda told the AFP news agency all 103 passengers and six crew had escaped and the injured had been taken to hospital, some with broken limbs.
Sukandi, a spokesman for the airline, told AFP it had been raining when the plane landed in Manokwari but that the pilots had “followed all the safety procedures regarding landing in wet conditions”.
Transport officials were reported to be on their way to the scene to investigate.
Indonesians rely on air transport to travel around the country’s 18,000 islands.
In July 2007, the European Union banned all Indonesia-based jets from its airspace, after a series of air crashes in Indonesia.
Four airlines were taken off the blacklist last year following safety improvements, but Merpati remains among those banned.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.