Indonesian search and rescue officials said on Monday that they have detected the crashed Indonesian aircraft with 54 people on board in a mountainous forest area in the remote Papua province.

The "ATR 42-300" which belonged to Trigana Airlines crashed on Sunday. It took off from Sentani Airport in Jayapura, capital of Papua province and was bound for the southern town of Oksibil.

Heronimus Guru, the deputy operational officer of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters the approximate location of the wreckage is 7 nautical miles southwest from oksibil.

Earlier media reports claimed debris had been spotted but Guru denied the discovery.

"No discovery yet, we have only received a signal from that location. Thus, we will be focusing our search in that location,"

All those on the plane were Indonesian nationals.

The airline responsible, Trigana Air Service, has been on the European Union's list of banned carriers since 2007 due to safety and regulatory concerns.

Trigana has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

Indonesia's safety record has been patchy with two major plane crashes in the past year, including an AirAsia flight that went down in the Java Sea, killing all 162 on board.