No clues as search for black box continues

No clues as search for black box continues

JAKARTA (JP): The search continued yesterday for the black box
containing flight data of the Garuda Indonesia plane that crashed
two weeks ago near Medan, North Sumatra, with the government
promising a transparent disclosure of any findings.

"We will be transparent," Minister of Transportation Haryanto
Dhanutirto said after attending a ministerial meeting on the
economy, finance, and development supervision here yesterday.

Garuda Indonesia's A-300 B-4 Airbus flight number GA-152
crashed on Sept. 26 in Buah Nabar village in Sibolangit
subdistrict of the Deli Serdang regency, killing all 234
passengers and crew on board.

After a futile 10-day search, the flight data recorder, known
as the black box, has still not been found, according to Oetrajo
Diran who heads the team of investigators.

Difficult terrain at the crash site has been cited as the main
obstacle for the search team, despite some sophisticated
equipment used in the process. A group of experts from Europe
also joined the search team which combed a greater area Sunday.

Diran was quoted by Antara as saying it would be up to his
team to determine when to call off the search.

The search team included hundreds of soldiers, policemen, air
navigation experts, traffic control officials and experts from
Airbus Industrie, the French-based jet manufacturer.

If found, the black box will be sent abroad for analysis as
Indonesia does not have the facilities to do so.

In the past several months, a large area of Southeast Asia has
been blanketed by thick smog caused by forest fires in Sumatra
and Kalimantan.

The pilot of the aircraft, Rachmo Wiyogo, reportedly told
Polonia Airport traffic control tower moments before the crash
that he was encountering poor visibility.

Speculation about the cause of the accident has been
heightened by the emergence of what is claimed to be a transcript
of the final conversation between the pilot and an air traffic
controller. The transcript suggests the pilot misunderstood a
direction, or was given a wrong direction, and turned the wrong
way when approaching Medan.

In a related development in Medan yesterday, 50-year-old
Nawari Boro Sitepu, a farmer of the Buah Nabar village, called on
the airline to compensate for damages caused by the crash on her
two-hectare land.

"I hope Garuda Indonesia will pay attention... it is now
difficult for us to cultivate the land," said Sitepu, a mother of
four who pays for her childrens' school tuition with proceeds
from her durian farm.

Buah Nabar village chief B. Gurusinga said the main water
source for the 570 village residents, as well as some portions of
the village road, had also been damaged by the crash.

"Our sources of drinking water has been polluted and villagers
do not want to use them anymore. They now have to take water from
Sembahe and Bingkawan districts which are three kilometers away
from our village," Gurusinga said. (aan)