Four survivors of Pelita plane crash flown home
JAKARTA (JP): Four of the six survivors of the Pelita Air Services transport plane which plunged into the Hong Kong harbor shortly after take off last Friday were flown home yesterday.
They arrived at Halim Perdanakusumah Airport on board a small Pelita plane which was sent especially to pick them up.
The other two survivors remained hospitalized in the British colony, according to a Pelita spokesman.
The bodies of the six victims will be flown home today. Hong Kong salvage workers yesterday finally managed to remove the bodies of the last two victims from the wreckage.
All 12 were crew members of Pelita's Hercules C-130 plane which was returning to Indonesia on Friday after a mission for the United Nations to repatriate Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong to Vietnam. The plane was chartered by British Heavy Lift Cargo Airlines Ltd.
The four who returned yesterday were pilot Soeyono Sanardhi, flight engineer Haryanto, ground engineer Amas Susanto and steward Aris Marali.
They were greeted personally by Pelita's president, Capt. Boediono, and their families at the tarmac.
But there was hardly any time for the anxious relatives to hug the returnees because they were immediately whisked into an awaiting ambulance and driven to Pertamina Hospital where they were to receive further treatment.
Soeyono Sanardi, the 40-year-old pilot who was flying the plane, did not show any visible injury and walked unaided to the ambulance after waving to the awaiting crowd. The other three had to be aided by stewards to disembark from the plane.
A more emotional reception is expected at Halim Perdanakusuma this afternoon when the six deceased are flown in. Pelita has sent a Fokker-100 jet to bring them home.
Koes Pardjoko, who was on duty at a Pelita command post at the airport monitoring the situation, said yesterday that there were still uncertainties about when the other two survivors -- cabin attendant Yosef Papilatu and first officer Haris Permata -- will be returned.
Quite Serious
He told The Jakarta Post that their condition was quite serious and they will only be flown home if and when they have recuperated.
He said Hong Kong divers yesterday removed the other two bodies from the plane's wreckage, dashing all remaining hopes that the two men -- mechanic Eldon Karta Siahaan and flight engineer Bambang Haryono -- might have survived the crash.
Pelita staff and the Indonesian consulate in Hong Kong yesterday were working on the arrangements so that the two bodies could be flown home together with the other four of the deceased copilot Bambang Suhamartono, pilot Adi Surya, load master Jarmis Kinan and engineer Sunoto.
Indonesian and Hong Kong aviation authorities are jointly conducting the investigation into the cause of the accident. Officials in both countries agreed that it would take quite a while to determine the cause, Koes added.
Although the cause of the crash is still under investigation, Soeyono has said in Hong Kong that the propeller on the outboard right engine appeared to have malfunctioned during the take-off.
The aircraft's "black box" flight data and voice recorders have been sent to Britain for expert analysis, AFP reported.
The Hercules had been chartered since November 1991 by the Hong Kong government to forcibly send home Vietnamese who balked at voluntary repatriation after being denied refugee status and resettlement in the West.
The government has said the crash will not halt its controversial forced repatriation program, which has so far sent back more than 1,000 unwilling boat people. (rms)