The Merpati airline Boeing 737 bounced off the tarmac at Rendani domestic airport in Manokwari, West Papua, hurtled into trees and skidded into a shallow river, director general of civil aviation Herry Bhakti Singayuda told AFP.

Singayuda said the plane came to a halt with its tail section in the river about 200 metres from the end of the landing strip. "All 103 passengers and six crew members are safe. Some are injured," he said.

Witnesses said the left wing broke off as the plane smashed into the trees at the end of the runway. The cockpit was also almost completely separated from the rest of the fuselage.

"We flew safely and the plane touched down smoothly on the runway but it just didn't stop. It skidded very fast and I felt it hit something twice before it stopped and tumbled down," said passenger Zainal Hayat, 52, who crawled out of a crack in the fuselage and was being treated at hospital with facial injuries.

The plane was flying a routine domestic route from Sorong, also in West Papua province, to Manokwari, which is about 340km away.

AFP