Missing Air Force plane found at East Java's Jabung Hill
Missing Air Force plane found at East Java's Jabung Hill
ID Nugroho and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya/Medan
After two days of intensive searching, the wreckage of an Indonesian Air Force plane was finally found on Friday morning at Jabung Hill, in Malang regency, East Java.
The Bronco OV-10 aircraft was totally destroyed, with the plane's nose buried in the soil. The plane's pilot Maj. Robby and copilot First. Lt. Harcus were found dead.
Wheels, wings and other parts of the aging craft were scattered about the crash site, located some 40 kilometers from Malang.
From the its position, it seems that the aircraft, which was made in 1976, turned left before it dived into the soil only some 30 kilometers from Abdurrahman Saleh Air Base.
A search and rescue team comprising Air Force and police personnel evacuated the remains of the pilot and copilot, bringing them back to the Abdurrahman Saleh Air Base by helicopter.
Hundreds of curious residents flocked to the accident area to watch the ongoing evacuation efforts.
The aircraft departed from Abdurrachman Saleh Air Base at 5.10 a.m on Thursday. It vanished from radar screen minutes later and was thought to have gone down on Jabung Hill.
Coincidentally, the accident was followed five hours later by another plane accident involving an Air Force CN-235 aircraft in North Aceh. Three Army officers were killed in the accident that occurred on the runway of the Malikussaleh Airport on Thursday, and was believed to have been caused by engine malfunction.
The remains of the three Army officers were buried on Friday in their respective hometowns. The remains of Lt. Col. Tugas Suwignyo Kusbiantoro were buried in the Malang Heroes Cemetery, while the remains of Maj. Taufan Panio were buried in the Cikutra Heroes Cemetery in Bandung.
Meanwhile, in Medan, thousands of people, especially from the local Malay community, attended the funeral of Lt. Col. Tito Ottoman Mahmud at the family cemetery in the Al-Mahsum Mosque in Medan.
The remains of Tito, the Sultan Deli XIII, was buried near the tomb of his father Azmy Perkasa Alam, the Sultan Deli XII.
The funeral, which was held after Friday prayers, was led by Maj. Gen. Sriyanto, the chief of Siliwangi military command overseeing West Java province. Tito was a commander at the military command but was assigned to the troubled province of Aceh.
Tito had been serving in Aceh for the past 10 months, with his term there due to end in August. Besides being deployed to Aceh, Tito was earlier assigned to other conflict areas such as East Timor in 1995 and Papua in 1998.
Separately, six other victims of the Aceh aircraft accident were evacuated from an Aceh hospital to Medan on Friday morning. The victims, including two civilians, were among 20 people injured in the accident.
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