More Merpati crash victims found
More Merpati crash victims found
JAKARTA (JP): Two more bodies of victims of a Merpati Nusantara Airlines plane crash were found in the Molo Strait, East Nusa Tanggara, yesterday.
This brought the number of deaths since the Twin Otter went down on Tuesday to seven as of yesterday evening. A total of five bodies were found on Wednesday.
Search and rescue workers said that the two badly mutilated bodies were yet to be identified. They believed that one was that of 10-month old Cencen.
Parts of the 16-seat turboprop plane have also been found scattered along the coast of the western tip of the Flores island. The body of the aircraft and the rest of the 14 people aboard have yet to be located.
The aircraft that went missing half an hour after it took off from Bima, West Nusa Tanggara, for Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara, on Tuesday morning is believed to have crashed into the strait.
The airlines's president, Ridwan Fatarudin, said here yesterday that either bad weather or an explosion had caused the lethal accident, Merpati's first this year.
According to Ridwan, an explosion could happen due to mechanical or engine failure.
He said the wreckage of the plane built in 1973 may have plunged into the sea.
"The pilot could have landed on the beach, or in nearby Labuan Bajo, Flores, where the aircraft was last sighted, if there was anything wrong with the airplane. Or at least the pilot could have informed the ground about what was wrong," he said.
He also said that the airplane was overhauled in late December and declared in service again on Dec. 24.
Ridwan said that when found, the black box will be sent to Canada, because the aircraft was built by Canada's De Havilland Aircraft Limited.
"The Twin Otter has not been assembled anymore since 1976, when the manufacturer was taken over by Boeing, which is not interested in such a type. However there are lots of Twin Otters still in operation, although parts are scarce," he said.
Merpati originally operated 10 Twin Otters serving small cities mostly in the eastern part of the country, where runways are just 600 meters long. (icn)