The Merpati airline Boeing 737, carrying more than 100 passengers, broke apart after bouncing off the tarmac at Rendani domestic airport in Manokwari, West Papua, hurtling into trees and skidding into a shallow river on Tuesday, director-general of civil aviation Herry Bhakti Singayuda told AFP.

Singayuda said the plane came to a halt with its tail section in the river about 200 metres from the end of the landing strip. "All 103 passengers and six crew members are safe. Some are injured. They have been rushed to hospital," he said.

Heavy rain and fog were suspected of playing a part in the crash, he added, although expert investigators had yet to arrive at the scene. Witnesses said the left wing broke off as the plane smashed into the trees at the end of the runway. The cockpit was also almost completely separated from the rest of the fuselage.

The plane was flying a routine domestic route from Sorong, also in West Papua province, to Manokwari, a distance of about 340 kilometres.