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.
Related story on page 4