JAYAPURA, INDONESIA - A police aircraft carrying four crew went missing in a mountainous area of Indonesia's eastern Papua province on Monday, officials said.

The Polish-built M-28 Skytruck was flying from the provincial capital Jayapura to Mulia town in Puncak Jaya district when it lost contact with air traffic control, aviation official Sukarjo said.

"The plane left Sentani airport at 10:48 am (0148 GMT) and lost contact at noon," he told AFP, adding that the flight should have lasted one hour. The twin-engine plane was on a regular supply flight when it disappeared in Papua's heavily forested central highlands.

Archipelagic Indonesia relies heavily on air transport but has one of Asia's worst air safety records.