Lion Air Plane skids off runaway, dozens die
Blontank Poerwoko, The Jakarta Post/Surakarta
At least 23 people have been killed and dozens more were injured after a Lion Air passenger jet skidded off a slippery runway and slammed into a graveyard after landing at a Surakarta airport on Tuesday evening.
The aircraft, carrying 146 passengers and seven crew, was badly damaged, breaking into two pieces with a wing ripping off.
The fatalities, from the which are expected to rise, make the accident the worst crash in at least two years.
The bad weather and pitch black conditions made situation near the airport chaotic and victims were still being found late on Tuesday night.
The accident happened seconds after the McDonnell-Douglas MD- 82 aircraft, operated by the Lion Air domestic budget carrier, landed at Adi Sumarmo International Airport in Surakarta, Central Java.
One of the surviving passengers, M. Rahmani, told The Jakarta Post that the plane had flown through bad weather from Jakarta.
Turbulence was felt several times on the way to Adi Sumarmo Airport, Rahmani said. It was very dark inside the cabin when it landed, he said.
The airplane, first hit the airport safety barrier, lunged onto a road and then onto a rice field before came to a halt in a public cemetery.
A survivor told Metro TV station that passengers panicked as the airplane bumped and skidded on the runway.
"Many people shouted Allah Akbar! (God is Great) And after the plane stopped, people scrambled to get out of it," he said.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes after the accident, with shocked passengers wandering around and dead bodies stacked at the airport.
Ambulances were quickly dispatched to the scene, while security personnel cordoned off the area. Relatives and families of the victims thronged the airport in a frantic search for their loved ones.
Search and rescue teams said that most of the victims on the ill-fated flight were crushed in the impact.
There were many victims not yet identified as of last night, increasing fears the final death toll could be much higher.
A good number of passengers on board were found to be Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) members who were planning to take part in the NU Congress being held in the nearby Donohudan Haj dormitory.
One confirmed fatality included lawmaker Yusuf Muhammad, a leading member of the National Awakening Party (PKB), the political wing of the NU.
The budget airline would cover medical costs for the injured passengers and pay compensation to the families of the perished, Lion Air corporate secretary Hasyim Arsal Al-Habsyi was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.
Chief of Surakarta municipal police, Sr. Comr. Abdul Madjid, confirmed that 23 people had died as of Tuesday night, including a Singaporean. "We are still investigating the incident," Abdul said. However, Reuters quoted TV reports that up to 31 people had died.
The injured, including a two-year-old child, were rushed to the Islamic, Kasih Ibu, Air Force, Orthopedi, Oen and Muhammadiyah Hospitals nearby.
The accident is not the first time for the new carrier, popular for its budget service.
In January 2002, a Lion Air Boeing 737-200 skidded off the runway in Sultan Syarif Kasim III in Pekanbaru after an aborted takeoff. Seven people were injured in the accident.