All 15 people aboard a plane that crashed on a remote hilltop in far northern Australia are confirmed dead, police said after reaching the site.

A police officer who was winched down from a helicopter has found no signs of life in the burnt-out wreckage, a police spokesman told the Australian Associated Press Sunday.

The Aero-Tropics Metroliner twin-engine plane was flying between two Aboriginal communities in Queensland state's Cape York peninsula when it crashed into a 500 meter (1,650-foot) hill about 11 kilometers (seven miles) northwest of Lockhart River on Saturday.

It was the country's worst civilian air disaster for decades, Australian media reported. There were 13 passengers including a local policewoman and two crew on board.

The aircraft had taken off from Bamaga. Investigators said the pilot had radioed he was approaching the Lockhart River airstrip and had given no indication of any problems, but the aircraft never arrived. A helicopter found the wreckage about four hours later.

Officials have said there was rain, low cloud and 20-knot winds in the area.

Four air accident investigators have left the town of Cairns to try to reach the site and retrieve the flight recorders.

Effif Eseli, 47, whose adopted son Fred Bowie was among those presumed killed, refuelled the plane at Bamaga Saturday, Australian media reported.

"I feel so bad, my son was on board and I gave them fuel," Eseli was quoted as saying. "It's just terrible. I just really want to know what happened."

The Sun-Herald newspaper said it was Australia's worst air crash since 26 people were killed in Western Australia in 1968.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies May 8, 2005)