The body of a passenger missing after a plane crash in Micronesia has been found in the Pacific lagoon where the aircraft came down.

The Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 plane hit the water while trying to land at Chuuk Island airport in the Micronesia archipelago last Friday.

Initially, the airline had said all 47 passengers and crew had managed to evacuate the sinking aircraft safely - but on Saturday afternoon, it confirmed that one passenger was unaccounted for.

Air Niugini chief executive Tahawar Durrani said the man's body was found by divers.

The airline said the man was Indonesian, but offered no further details.


"Our outreach team is in touch with the man's family and we are making arrangements to repatriate his body," Mr Durrani said.

Image: An Air Niugini plane overshot a runway in Micronesia and ended up in the ocean

Footage of the accident showed US navy sailors embarking on a rescue mission using an inflatable boat to shuttle people ashore before the plane sank in about 100ft (30m) of water.

The clip shows sailors using the aircraft's right wing as a makeshift mooring for the boat. The rescuers entered the plane via its emergency door, and some of the men were wearing swimming shorts and goggles.

They waded through waist-deep water in the flooded cabin in search of survivors, ensuring everyone had escaped safely.

After making the short journey back to the inflatable dinghy by carefully walking on the wing, just below the water's surface, one rescuer said: "They got everybody!"

Seven people were taken to hospital. Four are still being treated and are said to be in a stable condition.

Image: Boats and locals come to the rescue of all passengers and crew from a plane which crashed into a Micronesia lagoon

The cause of the crash and the exact sequence of events remains unclear.

The airline and the US navy both said the plane landed in the lagoon short of the runway.

Some witnesses thought the plane overshot the runway.

Bill Jaynes, one of the passengers, said the plane came in very low.

He said: "I thought we landed hard. Until I looked over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and water was coming in.

"And I thought, well, this is not the way it's supposed to happen."