Four survivors of Pelita plane crash flown home

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)