JAKARTA ~ A cargo plane was engulfed in flames after catching fire on landing in remote eastern Papua province, an air traffic controller said.

“Sparks were seen from its left wheel during landing before (the plane) caught fire,” a controller at Wamena airport, who declined to be named, said.

The two-member crew escaped without injury, the controller said.

The Transall C-160 aircraft, belonging to small local airline PT Manunggal Air Service, had been transporting construction material from provincial capital Jayapura to the town of Wamena last Thursday, he said.

The controller said the wreckage of the plane had been towed to the side of the runway.

Papua, a province of mountains and thick jungle in the western half of New Guinea island, relies heavily on air traffic for transport in the absence of a substantial road network.