Mandala clears away charred plane, wreckage<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post\/Medan<\/p>\n
Five days after the Mandala Boeing-737 crash that killed 149
\npeople, the remaining plane wreckage has been removed from the
\ncrash site and taken to a hangar in the vicinity of Polonia
\nAirport here.<\/p>\n
Witnessed by hundreds of curious residents, the
\nfour-hour-long clearance process -- which had commenced on Friday
\nafter a team of U.S. and local experts finished their inspection
\nof the crash site -- ended at 2 a.m on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Besides clearing the plane wreckage, the workers hired by
\nMandala Airlines also removed charred cars and motorcycles from
\nthe site using a crane, excavator and dump truck.<\/p>\n
The heavy machinery, owned by PT Sarana Baja Perkasa, was
\nrented by Mandala Airlines.<\/p>\n
Chief of Mandala Airlines' North Sumatra operations Det
\nElvisra said on Saturday that the plane wreckage would be taken
\nto the SMAC Hangar in Polonia airport, just hundreds of meters
\naway from the crash site, while the cars and motorcycles would go
\nto Medan Baru Police headquarters.<\/p>\n
Elvisra did not know whether the pieces of the plane would
\nlater be sent to Bandung or Jakarta for investigative purposes.
\n"The evacuation is aimed at clearing Jl. Jamin Ginting so that
\ntraffic returns to normal," Elvisra said.<\/p>\n
Mandala Airlines had earlier removed some parts of the
\nwreckage, which had been dispatched to aircraft maker PT
\nDirgantara Indonesia in Bandung for further study.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, chief of the Indonesian team investigating the
\nplane crash Frans Wenas said that the team had examined parts of
\nthe wreckage and questioned five witnesses.<\/p>\n
According to the witnesses, the airplane had taken off, but
\ncould not go higher. The plane had crashed into a house before
\ncoming to a halt on Jl. Jamin Ginting, where it exploded.<\/p>\n
In a separate development, the Medan administration will hand
\nover on Monday Rp 1 billion (US$100,000) for air crash victims.<\/p>\n
Medan Deputy Mayor Ramli Lubis said on Saturday that the money
\nwould be distributed to the next-of-kin of those who died on the
\nground, but bereavement compensation for the families of
\npassengers who died was the responsibility of Mandala Airlines.
\nAccording to government data, 38 residents of the area were
\nkilled in the accident.<\/p>\n
Some of the bereavement fund will also be distributed to
\ninjured residents and to those whose homes were damaged.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mandala-clears-away-charred-plane-wreckage-1447893297",
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