Mandala clears away charred plane, wreckage

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Medan

Five days after the Mandala Boeing-737 crash that killed 149 people, the remaining plane wreckage has been removed from the crash site and taken to a hangar in the vicinity of Polonia Airport here.

Witnessed by hundreds of curious residents, the four-hour-long clearance process -- which had commenced on Friday after a team of U.S. and local experts finished their inspection of the crash site -- ended at 2 a.m on Saturday.

Besides clearing the plane wreckage, the workers hired by Mandala Airlines also removed charred cars and motorcycles from the site using a crane, excavator and dump truck.

The heavy machinery, owned by PT Sarana Baja Perkasa, was rented by Mandala Airlines.

Chief of Mandala Airlines' North Sumatra operations Det Elvisra said on Saturday that the plane wreckage would be taken to the SMAC Hangar in Polonia airport, just hundreds of meters away from the crash site, while the cars and motorcycles would go to Medan Baru Police headquarters.

Elvisra did not know whether the pieces of the plane would later be sent to Bandung or Jakarta for investigative purposes. "The evacuation is aimed at clearing Jl. Jamin Ginting so that traffic returns to normal," Elvisra said.

Mandala Airlines had earlier removed some parts of the wreckage, which had been dispatched to aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia in Bandung for further study.

Meanwhile, chief of the Indonesian team investigating the plane crash Frans Wenas said that the team had examined parts of the wreckage and questioned five witnesses.

According to the witnesses, the airplane had taken off, but could not go higher. The plane had crashed into a house before coming to a halt on Jl. Jamin Ginting, where it exploded.

In a separate development, the Medan administration will hand over on Monday Rp 1 billion (US$100,000) for air crash victims.

Medan Deputy Mayor Ramli Lubis said on Saturday that the money would be distributed to the next-of-kin of those who died on the ground, but bereavement compensation for the families of passengers who died was the responsibility of Mandala Airlines. According to government data, 38 residents of the area were killed in the accident.

Some of the bereavement fund will also be distributed to injured residents and to those whose homes were damaged.