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JAKARTA, Indonesia – The body of an American pilot was recovered Monday from the wreckage of his small plane, which crashed into a jungle-covered mountain in eastern Indonesia over the weekend, rescuers said.
There were no passengers on board.
David Clapper, 46, was delivering food and other supplies to Ndundu, a remote village in Papua province, when his Pilatus Porter PC-6 went down late Saturday, said Col. Dedy Permadi, head of the local Search and Rescue Agency.
An air force plane dropped seven rescuers at the site, located in rugged terrain 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers) east of Jakarta, he said. They recovered Clapper’s body, but will wait until Tuesday to evacuate it because of bad weather, Permadi said.
The pilot was from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and had been flying for the Catholic-run Associated Mission Aviation in Papua since 2002.