Four Indonesians survive SIA plane crash
JAKARTA (JP): Four of the five Indonesians aboard the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 747 jetliner that crashed at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport on Tuesday survived the accident, an official said on Wednesday.
Singapore Airlines spokeswoman Susi Charma said the four surviving passengers were husband and wife, Anton Gunadi and Lailawati Gunadi, Hendric Leenardo and Sigit Suciptoyono.
"The fate of another Indonesian passenger, Cecilia Halim, is not yet known," Susi said.
Susi said that the airline would soon fly "immediate family members" of the victims to Taiwan.
Survivors Anton Gunadi and Lailawati Gunadi, are residents of Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan.
Antara news agency reported that when contacted, the couple's son, Doni Gunadi, confirmed that his parents, both passengers of the Singaporean flight to the United States which crashed at about 11:18 p.m. local time on Oct. 31, were safe.
"My father called me on Tuesday midnight to say that both he and my mother survived the crash, and that they were staying at a hotel in Taipei," Doni told the news agency.
He added that his parents had left from Banjarmasin on Monday for Jakarta, where they flew to Singapore.
Doni said his parents had planned to visit his brother in the United States.
"They said they are canceling their trip to the U.S. and are coming straight back home, where they will hold a ceremony in celebration of their safety," Doni said.
Anton Gunadi, an entrepreneur of Chinese descent, is the owner of the Bina Benua Group, which has a range of business interests in South Kalimantan and other provinces.
Investigators on Wednesday were looking into whether the jetliner hit an object on the runway before the fiery crash, which left 79 of the 179 people on board dead, and another 85 injured.
By midday, emergency workers had pulled the last bodies and the flight's black box from the wreckage of the Los Angeles-bound Boeing 747-400, which crashed on takeoff during a typhoon.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Singapore Airlines Media Center in Singapore told The Jakarta Post that surviving passengers would receive US$5,000, while the families of deceased passengers would receive US$25,000.
"This is not compensation. This is to assist them with their immediate expenses. SIA will immediately provide to those on the flight $5,000 to assist with their expenses," the spokeswoman, who requested anonymity, said on Wednesday night.
"If the passenger has died, the airlines will provide an up- front payment of US$25,000 to assist them (family) with their immediate expenses."
When asked about Cecilia Halim, the spokeswoman said that she was still "unaccounted for".
Separately, another spokesperson at the media center, Maniam, said that the black box, which records movement, was found intact but that it would take "a few days" to find out what it had recorded.
"So far, we've found the black box but not the cockpit voice recorder," Maniam told the Post.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian visited the airport in Taoyuan city, just south of the capital Taipei, to offer his condolences to relatives of the victims.
Near coffins adorned with chrysanthemums, Buddhist monks chanted prayers on Wednesday for the victims of Singapore Airlines flight SQ 006. Cries from grieving relatives who located their loved ones lying beneath white sheets on the ground cut through the chants, Antara reported. (ylt)