Rescuers were searching for survivors of the Merpati Nusantara Airlines crash just off the coast of Kaimana, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Indonesian transportation ministry.

There were 21 passengers and six crew members aboard the plane, a turbo-propeller MA60, he said.

Ervan could not immediately confirm any casualties, though a Kaimana Airport ticket agent said that at least 15 bodies have been recovered.

Merpati, a cash-strapped state-owned airline with an aging fleet, flies many of the more remote routes in Indonesia.

In 2010, a Merpati airplane overshot the runway at the Rendai airport in Manokwari, West Papua, injuring 78 people.

A year earlier, two Merpati planes crashed within two months of each other in Papua.

The first occurred in July 2009 when a Merpati flight lost its front wheels as it took of from Biak. A month later, another flight, a Twin Otter aircraft, crashed, killing 16 people on board.

Indonesia has made efforts in recent years to improve its safety record.