All feared dead in SilkAir crash
All feared dead in SilkAir crash
JAKARTA (JP): A SilkAir Boeing 737-300 airplane crashed
yesterday north of Palembang, South Sumatra. All 104 people on
board are feared dead.
Initial reports from rescue teams late yesterday evening said
they had found no survivors.
Gopi Bala, SilkAir's manager in Indonesia, would not comment
on whether there were any survivors. "It is dark and the search
and rescue is still being conducted. Honestly I really cannot
give you complete information," he told families of passengers
who had gathered at Soekarno-Hatta airport at 11:30 p.m.
Separately, Antara quoted Director General for Air
Transportation Zainuddin Sikado as saying that he feared that all
had perished in the crash.
The plane, flight number MI-185, took off from Jakarta's
Soekarno-Hatta airport at 3:23 p.m. bound for Singapore carrying
97 passengers and seven crew. It was scheduled to land at Changi
airport in Singapore at 6:05 p.m. local time.
By midnight SilkAir had not published the names of the
passengers, it had only listed their nationalities.
Of the 97 passengers only 23 were Indonesians. The others were
40 Singaporeans, 10 Malaysians, five Americans, five French, four
Germans, three Britons, two Japanese, one Bosnian, one Austrian,
one Indian, one Taiwanese and one Australian.
Singapore's Channel 5 television reported that all but one of
the crew members were Singaporeans, the co-pilot being from New
Zealand.
No official explanation for the crash has been given.
An officer from the Sungsang police station who was patrolling
the area by speedboat said he witnessed the plane explode in
midair.
"It exploded above my head. The plane then crashed about 200
meters from where I was," First Sgt. Amirul Husni told The
Jakarta Post by telephone from Sungsang police station.
Capt. Haryadi Bainuddin, deputy chief of the Musi Banyuasin
police resort who coordinated the first rescue team to arrive at
the crash site, told the Post that the crash site "is about two-
hours by speedboat from Palembang."
Haryadi said rescue teams had found some personal belongings
such as an identification card swept up by the river which was at
high tide.
First Sgt. Amirul said 16 identity documents, including
passports, had been discovered around the crash site.
No bodies had been found, he said.
The exact location of the crash is said to be at Parit 12,
Muara Baru village in Sungsang district.
Gopi Bala said contact with the plane was lost at around 4:15
p.m. when it was about five kilometers from Palembang.
Antara reported from Palembang that five ships and three
speedboats from the coastal police had been assigned to help in
the search operations.
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto flew to
Palembang last night with Director General for Air Transportation
Zainudin Sikado and Indonesia's chief aircrash investigator
Oetardjo Diran.
"I don't know about the casualties yet but I pray that there
are many survivors," he told TVRI earlier.
Yesterday's crash comes just three months after a Garuda
Indonesia plane crashed in Medan, North Sumatra, with 234 on
board.
Boeing 737-300s have a maximum capacity of 124 passengers.
According to SilkAir, the ill-fated plane was just 10 months
old and the newest in its fleet. It was delivered on Feb. 14.
The scene at Soekarno-Hatta airport was tragic, as relatives
of the passengers flocked to learn more news about the crash.
The Airport Authority building was packed with anxious people.
One of them was Wijonarko who said his sister Oey Siok Lian
was on board the flight with her husband and her 14-year-old
daughter.
"I had just recovered from an illness and they were here to
visit me," he said.
At Changi Airport in Singapore, an announcement summoned
relatives to SilkAir's offices.
Some relatives were crying as they arrived. They were taken to
a room where about a dozen guards and police kept journalists
away.
The airport arrivals screen, next to the flight number, read:
"Delayed. Ask airline," AP reported from Singapore.
(09/10/aan/mds)