Mandala clears away charred plane, wreckage

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.