At least fifteen killed as plane crashes into shops
At least fifteen killed as plane crashes into shops
JAKARTA (JP): At least 15 people were killed when a light
aircraft crash-landed into a busy shopping street in Bandung
yesterday morning, officials in the West Java city said.
All four people on board the Baron Beechcraft B-58 trainer
plane and 11 others on the ground were killed when the plane
hammered four shops on Jl. Jamika and gutted them with the
explosion. Two cars, two motorcycles and a rickshaw were also
razed, witnesses said.
The Ministry of Transportation said the four people on board
were killed and 17 on the ground were also victims. It did not
say however whether the 17 include injured as well as the dead.
An official at the Hasan Sadikin hospital confirmed to The
Jakarta Post last night that 15 charred bodies, 12 men and three
women, were at its morgue.
Five others were undergoing treatment at the hospital's
intensive care unit, all badly burnt, the official said.
Some of the injured were sent to other hospitals. The Immanuel
hospital received seven, Rajawali took two and Kebon Jati one, a
four-year old girl. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Rescue workers were still scouring the debris late yesterday
looking for more bodies, Antara reported.
The plane crashed at 11.30 a.m., only minutes after it took
off from the Husein Sastranegara airport in Bandung on its way to
Halim Perdana Kusuma airport in Jakarta. The plane is owned by
the government-owned pilot training center in Curug near Jakarta.
An airport official said two minutes before the crash, the
pilot, 24-year old Elvan Ardi, contacted the control tower to
inform of an engine problem when the plane reached an altitude of
500 feet.
The Ministry of Transportation said the plane was trying to
return to Husein Sastranegara after it learned of the engine
trouble.
Elvan, who came from Cimahi near Bandung, was taking three
students with him, all from Jakarta, identified by Antara as 22-
year old Emil Rahimil of Cilandak Barat, 21-year old Tasna
Riansyah of Kebon Jeruk, Jakarta Barat, and 22-year old
Samsyurizal of Pancoran.
The identities of those killed on the ground were not
available.
An investigation team led by Director General of Air
Transportation Zainuddin Sikado has been formed comprising
officials of the directorate general, the Curug pilot school and
the Husein Sastranegara airport.
Officials said that engine trouble was the probable cause.
Officials said Elvan was an experienced pilot who had taught
at the Curug school since 1994. His three students were in the
final phase of their "cross country" test, each one having
already clocked 200 flying hours, Antara said. The four had left
Curug in the morning for Bandung.
An unnamed source at the Curug school also told the news
agency that the piston propeller plane had just been refitted
with a new U.S.-made Continental engine. The engine had only
clocked two hours and 25 minutes, according to the source.
The plane was bought by the Curug school from the American
manufacturer in 1987.
A 31-year old woman who owned the store on Jl. Jamika 13
survived the ordeal by rushing out through the back door when the
shop was engulfed by fire.
Liana, the woman, told Antara that she was cooking in the
kitchen in the back of the building when she suddenly found
herself trapped by a huge fire coming from the front of the
store.
Liana however said that she believed her brother, 22-year old
Jefri, and sister 29-year old Wiwi were among those who died.
They were trapped in the middle of the house, she said.
Other witnesses said the plane knocked out electricity and
telephone lines before striking the shops and exploding. The
Bandung branch of PT Telkom said about 2,000 telephone lines in
the area were disconnected as a result.
Among those who visited the scene of the crash yesterday were
Col. Gaharudin G., the chief of the Husein Sastranegara Air Base,
Siliwangi Military Command Chief Maj. Gen. Tayo Tarmadi and Col.
Didi Widayadi, the Bandung Police Chief. (01/emb)