Bad weather hinders plane's removal from river
Tarko Sudiarno and Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Klaten/Tangerang
Bad weather on Thursday hampered efforts to remove a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737 from a river after it crash-landed near Klaten, Central Java on Wednesday, killing a female flight attendant.
Rescue workers said rain which fell all day meant the 737 could not be removed from the Bengawan Solo river, despite local resident building a wooden bridge to aid in the process.
Rescue workers, police and Air Force personal were expected to stay at the crash site overnight and make further attempts to remove flight GA-421 on Friday.
To accelerate the process, the authorities will cleave the aircraft's body into several parts, Suryanta, a rescue team member, told The Jakarta Post at the crash site.
The engines would be among the first parts to be salvaged, he said.
Other rescue workers said it would take at least one week to lift the plane out of the river which measured between one- and three-meters deep.
Since late Wednesday, the floating plane, sporting a broken right wing, has been tied to the river bank to prevent it from shifting or sinking in the water.
Despite the deluge the ill-fated aircraft attracted an audience of thousands, causing a two-kilometer traffic jam.
The plane, carrying six crew and 54 passengers made a forced landing late Wednesday afternoon near the Sarenan village in Juiring subdistrict.
Santi Angraini, a female attendant, was killed and at least 32 passengers injured with 12 remaining in hospital on Thursday. Six foreigners -- two Italians, a Thai, a Norwegian, an Australian and a Dutch national -- suffered light injuries.
Garuda President Director Abdulgani said the company would provide US$7,500 in compensation to Santi's family, and a US$5,000 "sympathy fee" to each passenger and cover all their medical and hotel expenses.
Garuda had not determined the cause of the accident.
"The aircraft was descending from the altitude of 32,000 to 23,000 and it went through heavy clouds, rain and thunderstorms, and both engines suddenly stopped working," Abdulgani said during a press conference at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.
He said pilot Abdul Rozak then tried to reactivate the engines several times but could not. The plane kept going down and once out of the clouds, Abdul decided to make an emergency landing, he said.
It was also not clear whether the engine failure stemmed from the bad weather or because of a technical fault.
Abdulgani praised the pilot and other crew members for their actions in such a critical situation.
The plane had been expected to land in Yogyakarta after it departed from Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara. It was scheduled to continue on to Jakarta.
It was the second accident in three days involving a Boeing 737 in Indonesia. On Monday several people were slightly injured when a 737 operated by Lion Airlines crash-landed immediately after take-off from Pekanbaru in Riau province.
In September 1997, at least 234 people were killed when a Garuda plane crashed in a village near Medan in North Sumatra due to thick smoke from forest fires.