Officials had earlier said what was left of the plane, a Boeing 737-400 operated by budget carrier Adam Air, had been located in the mountains of Sulawesi island where it had crashed in heavy rain. Reports said 12 people had survived the crash.

"The location has not been found. We apologise that the news that we conveyed was not true," said First Air Marshal Eddy Suyanto, commander of Hasanuddin air base in Makassar.

The plane lost contact with the ground on Monday about an hour before it was due to land in Manado in North Sulawesi, the transport ministry said.

The plane was carrying 96 passengers and six crew. Currently, three navy ships and five military planes are searching areas of southern and western Sulawesi, Bambang Karnoyudho of the National Search and Rescue Agency told the Associated Press news agency.

Reuters/BBC/VOVNews