Garuda plane crashes, 234 killed

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): A Garuda Indonesia Airbus-300-B4 airplane, with 234 people on board, crashed shortly before landing in Medan yesterday.

Search and rescue workers found the burned wreckage in a 500- meter deep ravine in the Barisan Range about 30 kilometers from Medan.

No survivors were found among the pieces of wreckage, parts of which were still burning when it was found.

In Jakarta, Garuda Indonesia president Soepandi said last night: "Up to now we have no report of any survivors."

Rescue workers found the plane destroyed and in small pieces, suggesting an explosion either on impact or in the air, near Buanabar village, in Sibolangit district, Deli Serdang regency.

Some trees in the area had been flattened to suggest that the plane had smashed into them before it crashed.

The GA 152 flight from Jakarta was carrying 222 passengers -- including 26 people in business class -- and 12 crew members, Garuda Indonesia said in Jakarta. The passengers included two children.

The pilot of the plane, identified by Garuda as Rachmo Wiyogo, had already requested landing navigation instructions from the Polonia airport control tower. Five minutes later the tower lost contact, a Garuda official in Medan told Antara.

Garuda said 40-year-old Rachmo had worked for the airline for more than 20 years, and had clocked 15,000 flying hours.

The co-pilot, 45-year-old Tom Sutomo, had 10,000 flying hours.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto in Jakarta declined to speculate whether thick haze, which had enveloped many parts of Sumatra these past weeks, had anything to do with the crash.

But Haryanto said officials in Medan had told him that visibility was good at Polonia airport although there was some haze around Medan, Antara reported.

He said he would look into claims by witnesses that the plane had been flying too low.

Last night rescue workers were salvaging the remains of the victims. They were being sent to Medan by land because visibility in the area had dropped to between 200 and 300 meters because of the fog and haze, making a helicopter landing dangerous.

Teams from the Air Force and the Army joined in the operation.

Dozens of people also converged on the area, including some who feared that relatives or friends would be among the dead.

Polonia airport in Medan was jammed by anxious people -- some in tears -- who wanted to find out if their relatives were on board flight GA152.

Some friends and relatives meanwhile visited the Garuda Indonesia headquarters on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Jakarta to seek information although many had been notified by phone.

There were heart-wrenching scenes at the Garuda office when the bad news was broken to people.

"I thought she was taking the morning flight," a tearful man said of his sister Adananingsih who was listed among the passengers.

Garuda said it was providing a Boeing 747-400 plane to fly the relatives to Medan this morning.

Farida Tedjakusumah, whose brother-in-law Ronald Puntu was on that plane, demanded that Garuda took care of the accommodation since they would likely have to spend more than a day in Medan.

"We take full responsibility for this accident," Soepandi said.

Antara said yesterday that rescue workers had yet to find the flight data and voice recorders, known in the airline industry as the black box.

Soepandi would not speculate on the cause of the accident.

"We still don't know yet, we're waiting for the results of an investigation," he replied.

He said a joint team from the directorate general of air transportation and Garuda would leave for Medan to investigate the accident this morning.

Capt. Darmadi, Garuda's director of operations, said visibility was around 600 meters at the time of the accident and "still quite sufficient."

Although the airport had been closed several times because of the haze these past few days, "Polonia was not closed at that time," he said.

The Airbus-300, which was delivered by Airbus Industrie in 1982, was one of nine Airbus planes operated by Garuda.

"This is the first Airbus accident in Indonesia," said Soepandi.

Airbus Industrie said yesterday that the aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-59A engine, had accumulated over 26,950 hours by the end of August.

"A team of specialists from Airbus Industrie is being dispatched to the scene of the accident today," it said.

The European manufacturer declined to speculate on the cause of the accident, saying that the investigation remained the responsibility of the relevant authorities.

Condolences

President Soeharto last night expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and ordered Minister Haryanto to conduct a full investigation into the cause of the crash, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said.

Haryanto's plan to visit the crash site yesterday was hampered by thick haze around Medan and officials at Polonia Airport advised him against the trip.

He decided to stand by at Halim Perdanakusuma airport, hoping that the haze would clear by late last night. "I'd go tonight if possible. Otherwise, it will have to be tomorrow morning."

Also waiting with him were Director General for Air Transportation Zainudin Sikado and the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency Harinto.

This was the fourth crash involving Indonesian commercial planes this year.

Thirty people died in a crash involving a Sempati airline Fokker 27 flight just after it took off from Bandung, West Java, heading for Jakarta in July 17.

In the same month, a CN-212 operated by Merpati Nusantara Airlines, crashed near Ambon, Maluku, killing three crew on board. Another Merpati plane crashed in April near Belitung, South Sumatra, killing 15 people and injuring 31.

Yesterday's crash was one of the worst air accidents involving an Indonesian airplane. In 1991, 136 people were killed when an Air Force C-130 transport plane crashed in Jakarta, killing 136 people. (21/jun/icn/byg/emb/mds)