Plane blaze at Indonesian airport

A cargo plane carrying oil caught fire while being unloaded at an airport in eastern Indonesia today, and at least one person was injured.

Orange flames shot high into the air after a drum of oil fell from the aircraft while it was parked on the tarmac, Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said.

He said the drum apparently somehow sparked the blaze in the British-made BAe-146/Avro RJ aircraft at an airport in Wamena town in Papua province.

Local police chief Lieutenant Colonel Fernando Napitupulu said the flames quickly roared through the plane, sending black smoke billowing. It took two hours to extinguish.

Witnesses said at least one man was rushed to hospital. He apparently works at the airport.

Air transport is important in rugged Papua, the second-largest island in the vast Indonesian archipelago.