Indonesian plane lands in rice field; all safe

An Indonesian passenger plane made an emergency landing in a rice field on Borneo island on Thursday and all 47 passengers and five crew on board survived the mishap, an airport official said.                                           

Officials had lost contact with the ATR turbo-prop plane, operated by Trigana Air, on a flight between Samarinda and Balikpapan in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province on Borneo, said Abdullah Husin, a spokesman for state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I.                                           

"There were 47 passengers and five crew. Only two of them suffered broken legs...," he said.                                           

A rescue team, he said, had found the damaged plane and its passengers on the route between the two cities.                                           

Indonesian airlines have a poor safety record after suffering a series of disasters in recent years. The European Commission last year lifted a ban on four Indonesian airlines, including national carrier Garuda Indonesia, after safety improvements.