Amid grieving for the victims of the Indonesian plane crash, an airline official says 12 people survived. The news comes from budget carrier Adam Air whose Boeing 737-400 came down on Monday. There were 96 passengers and six crew on board. Three of those travelling were Americans. But hopes anyone emerged alive from the tragedy are being tempered by the Indonesian transport ministry. It says villagers’ reports of a dozen survivors are yet to be confirmed.

And that is not the only confusion. After earlier reports that the crash site had been found despite difficult terrain, an Indonesian air force official now says the wreckage of the doomed plane is still missing. The plane which was flying between Java and Sulawesi islands crashed in heavy rain in the Western Sulawesi mountains. Adam Air is one of at least a dozen budget airlines that have emerged in Indonesia since the industry was deregulated in 1999.

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