A plane has crashed in stormy weather in northern Papua New Guinea, killing¹ 28 people on board and leaving only four survivors², officials said.

一架飞机在暴风雨中坠落到巴布亚新几内亚北部地区，造成机上28人死亡，仅有4人生还。

The survivors include the two pilots, from Australian and New Zealand, an Australian government statement said.

Officals said the Airlines PNG Dash-8 was flying from Lae to Madang when it went down in dense³ forest about 20km south of Madang.

Emergency services and an investigator⁴ have reached the scene of the crash.

Most of the passengers on board the twin-propeller plane were believed to be families travelling to attend a graduation ceremony for Madang university students.

'Horrendous⁵'

Trevor Hattersley, the Australian High Commission's warden⁶ in Madang, said the plane had crashed in a remote jungle near the coast in poor weather conditions.

"The weather was horrendous（可怕的） ," Mr Hattersley told the Associated Press news agency.

"There was a huge storm that came through at the same time - big rain, big wind."

Mr Hattersley said locals living the area had rushed to help, pulling people from the wreckage⁷.

Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation⁸ Commission said it was investigating the cause of the crash.

Airlines PNG said it had grounded its Dash-8 fleet of 12 aircraft until further notice.

More than 20 planes have crashed since 2000 in Papua New Guinea.

The country's rugged⁹ terrain¹⁰（地形） and lack of internal connecting roads make air travel crucial for its six million citizens.