Story highlights No distress call was received, officials say

The passenger plane lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday

Villagers reported seeing it crash into a mountain

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) Indonesian rescue workers have reached the crash site of a passenger plane that went down in a mountainous area with 54 people on board, a senior official said Tuesday.

The teams on the ground have so far seen at least 38 bodies at the scene and haven't found any survivors, said Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency.

Helicopters are being deployed to the densely forested area in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua to begin the evacuation process, he said.

The airliner, operated by the Indonesian carrier Trigana Air Service, lost contact with air traffic control Sunday about half an hour into a short flight from the provincial capital to a town in the mountains.

Search planes spotted debris on a mountainside Monday, but efforts to try to reach it on foot and by helicopter were suspended until Tuesday because of fog.

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