A passenger aircraft has crashed in eastern Indonesia with up to 27 people on board, a transport ministry spokesman says.

Bambang Ervan said the plane went into the sea near the province of West Papua in poor weather.

It is not known if anyone has survived the crash. A search and rescue operation is under way.

The Indonesian archipelago relies heavily on air transport and has one of Asia's worst air safety records.

AFP news agency quoted Mr Ervan as saying there were 21 passengers and six crew on board the twin turbo-prop plane, operated by Merpati Airlines, which was flying from the coastal city of Sorong to the small port town of Kaimana.

"An MA-60 aircraft crashed into the sea, some 500 metres (yards) away from the airstrip," he said.

"When the accident happened, the weather was bad with limited visibility."

Indonesia has seen a number of commercial airline crashes in recent years

In 2007, the European Union banned all of Indonesia's airlines including the national carrier Garuda.

In 2009, Garuda and three other carriers were taken off the EU's list, but Merpati Airlines remains on it.