Aussie Kokoda crash victims begin journey home

PORT MORESBY - The bodies of the nine Australians who died in a plane crash near the Kokoda Track have been loaded onto a RAAF Hercules to begin the journey home to family and loved ones.

Before dawn on Wednesday Papua New Guinea police escorted three funeral-home mini vans to the Port Moresby airport so the bodies of nine Australians on board the doomed charter flight en route to Kokoda could be laid to rest in their respective homes.

The bodies of seven Victorians and two Queenslanders are expected to arrive in Brisbane then Melbourne on a flight leaving Port Moresby about 8am (AEST) on Wednesday.

A DFAT spokeswoman would not say when the remains would arrive in Australia.

"We understand the importance of this issue to the families. We are working closely with the families on repatriation arrangements and need to respect the families' privacy at this difficult time," she said.

After an agonising wait for families all 13 victims of the August 11 plane crash were formally identified by PNG authorities earlier this week.

An Airlines PNG flight carrying two PNG pilots, nine Australians and a Japanese national crashed into the Owen Stanley Ranges about 1.5km north of the PNG village of Isurava at an altitude of 1,650 meters two weeks ago.

On board were nine Australians making the pilgrimage to hike the Kokoda Track, where 600 Aussie diggers died fighting Japanese forces.

A massive operation by the Australian Defence Force, Australian Federal Police and Australian Transport Safety Bureau, along with PNG counterparts, spent several days in the dense jungle piecing together remains and clues as to what went wrong.

A Japanese forensic anthropologist flew to Port Moresby to assist in the difficult job of identifying the remains.

PNG's Civil Aviation Authority director Joseph Kintau has said a report on the cause of the crash was expected in mid-September.

- AAP