Several passengers injured as plane skids off runway

Trigana Air flight was carrying 42 passengers and six crew

Several passengers flying on a small plane sustained injuries after it skidded off the runway in Indonesia's remote Papua province.

At least 42 passengers, including a baby, were on board the ATR-42 aircraft when the incident took place at an airport in the Yapen Islands regency.

The Trigana Air plane, flying to Jayapura, the capital of Papuan province, was carrying six crew members as well.

The aircraft skidded as it was taking off in the Southeast Asian archipelago. The incident took place at 8.35am local time on Monday, Trigana Air deputy area manager Irwan Rochendi said.

"Praise God everybody survived and has been taken to a hospital for a health checkup,” local police chief Ardyan Ukie Hercahyo was quoted as saying by AFP.

"We are investigating the incident and coordinating with related parties to ensure this will never happen again."

The aircraft slipped from the left side of the runway towards the south for about 20m, said Captain Lalu Yuniza, the airline's director of safety, security and quality.

"We are still waiting for any information from the pilot about how and why the plane skidded," he was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying. The plane suffered damage from the accident, he added.

All passengers were evacuated safely, authorities said. The incident left the passengers with injuries as well as trauma, according to a local search and rescue agency.

The airline has suffered over a dozen serious incidents since it started operations in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

A Trigana Air flight crashed in Papua in 2015, killing all 54 people on board.