[CBR Times] No survivors from Kokoda crash: PM

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told Parliament there are no survivors from the Kokoda Track plane that crashed carrying nine Australians.

As darkness fell over the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea, a team of eight struggled to get through the dense jungle to the crash site.

The rescuers had dropped down ropes from a helicopter in a valley below the mountain ridge where the plane crashed, PNG's Transport Minister Don Pombpolye told journalists in Port Moresby.

They then faced a difficult seven to eight hour walk to reach the plane, he said.

Mr Pombpolye said helicoptors which flew over the site did not see any sign of life.

"There was no movements," he said.

But he said it could not be confirmed that the passengers were all dead.

"I convey my deep sympathies to the families, that's all I can do at this stage," he said, adding that it was one of PNG's worst aviation disasters.