Indonesia military top brass missing

An Indonesian military aircraft carrying top-ranking security personnel and provincial officials has disappeared over the mountainous jungle region of the troubled Irian Jaya province.

Among those missing are the provincial military commander and his police counterpart.

Government officials in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, said the plane was flying from the mining town of Timika to the provincial capital, Jayapura, when air traffic controllers lost contact.

They said there had been no sign of the aircraft for many hours.

A search-and-rescue operation is under way.

The BBC Jakarta correspondent says there is no suggestion that the loss of the plane is connected to the conflict with Irian Jaya separatists, whose independence campaign has been gethering momentum over the past year.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service