The Fokker F-28 crashed on Thursday as it approached a small airport in the mountain town of Chachapoyas, 390 miles north of Lima. "Unfortunately, the aircraft crashed directly into ... Cerro Coloque at an altitude of 7,545 feet. The impact disintegrated the plane," Transport Minister Javier Reategui told reporters at the Chachapoyas airport.

"The passengers and the crew suffered the same impact," he said, adding that the wreckage and the remains of those on board were spread over a 400-yard (meter) radius.

"The rescue workers are making every effort to recover the remains," Reategui said. Two flight recorders, which could hold the key to the cause of the accident, had been recovered, he said.

Health Minister Fernando Carbone said the plane exploded following the crash and no intact bodies had been found. He said both wreckage and human remains had been broken into "small pieces."

Heavy rains and thick fog had hindered search operations in the remote area, but the weather improved early on Saturday and helicopters were able to head to an area where locals said they had seen a low-flying airplane and heard an explosion.

Carbone said commandos had to scale a rugged, nearly vertical cliff to reach the crash site.

Hector Badillo, who lost a wife and two daughters in the crash, said the families of the victims had asked authorities to declare the site a sanctuary. He appealed to reporters to refrain from publishing images of it.

"The sentiment of all of the families is to ask the press not to show these images that are an attack on the memories of our loved ones," said Vicente Navarro, who lost six relatives in the crash.

Flight 222, with eight children among its 42 passengers and four crew members, disappeared minutes before it was due to land. Six foreigners -- a Cuban man, a Spanish woman, two Dutchmen and Belgian with his Portuguese wife -- were on board.

The jet left the coastal city of Chiclayo shortly after 8 a.m. (1300 GMT) for the 30-minute flight and lost contact with air traffic controllers at around 8:43 a.m., apparently after pilots had sighted the 6,300-foot runway.

Chachapoyas, some 7,600 feet above sea level, is frequented by tourists and backpackers visiting Kuelap, a cloud-shrouded citadel predating the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Its rustic airport does not have radar or a fixed phone line.

Peru's worst air crash was on Feb. 29, 1996, when a Boeing 737 belonging to the local Faucett Airline crashed in the Andes as it prepared to land in Arequipa, 600 miles south of Lima. All 117 passengers and six crew members were killed.