Missing Air Force plane found at East Java's Jabung Hill<\/p>\n
ID Nugroho and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post\/Surabaya\/Medan<\/p>\n
After two days of intensive searching, the wreckage of an
\nIndonesian Air Force plane was finally found on Friday morning at
\nJabung Hill, in Malang regency, East Java.<\/p>\n
The Bronco OV-10 aircraft was totally destroyed, with the
\nplane's nose buried in the soil. The plane's pilot Maj. Robby and
\ncopilot First. Lt. Harcus were found dead.<\/p>\n
Wheels, wings and other parts of the aging craft were
\nscattered about the crash site, located some 40 kilometers from
\nMalang.<\/p>\n
From the its position, it seems that the aircraft, which was
\nmade in 1976, turned left before it dived into the soil only some
\n30 kilometers from Abdurrahman Saleh Air Base.<\/p>\n
A search and rescue team comprising Air Force and police
\npersonnel evacuated the remains of the pilot and copilot,
\nbringing them back to the Abdurrahman Saleh Air Base by
\nhelicopter.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of curious residents flocked to the accident area to
\nwatch the ongoing evacuation efforts.<\/p>\n
The aircraft departed from Abdurrachman Saleh Air Base at 5.10
\na.m on Thursday. It vanished from radar screen minutes later and
\nwas thought to have gone down on Jabung Hill.<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, the accident was followed five hours later by
\nanother plane accident involving an Air Force CN-235 aircraft in
\nNorth Aceh. Three Army officers were killed in the accident that
\noccurred on the runway of the Malikussaleh Airport on Thursday,
\nand was believed to have been caused by engine malfunction.<\/p>\n
The remains of the three Army officers were buried on Friday
\nin their respective hometowns. The remains of Lt. Col. Tugas
\nSuwignyo Kusbiantoro were buried in the Malang Heroes Cemetery,
\nwhile the remains of Maj. Taufan Panio were buried in the Cikutra
\nHeroes Cemetery in Bandung.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Medan, thousands of people, especially from the
\nlocal Malay community, attended the funeral of Lt. Col. Tito
\nOttoman Mahmud at the family cemetery in the Al-Mahsum Mosque in
\nMedan.<\/p>\n
The remains of Tito, the Sultan Deli XIII, was buried near the
\ntomb of his father Azmy Perkasa Alam, the Sultan Deli XII.<\/p>\n
The funeral, which was held after Friday prayers, was led by
\nMaj. Gen. Sriyanto, the chief of Siliwangi military command
\noverseeing West Java province. Tito was a commander at the
\nmilitary command but was assigned to the troubled province of
\nAceh.<\/p>\n
Tito had been serving in Aceh for the past 10 months, with his
\nterm there due to end in August. Besides being deployed to Aceh,
\nTito was earlier assigned to other conflict areas such as East
\nTimor in 1995 and Papua in 1998.<\/p>\n
Separately, six other victims of the Aceh aircraft accident
\nwere evacuated from an Aceh hospital to Medan on Friday morning.
\nThe victims, including two civilians, were among 20 people
\ninjured in the accident.<\/p>\n
Related story on page 4<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/missing-air-force-plane-found-at-east-javas-jabung-hill-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }