Plane crash kills 149

Tue, 06 Sep 2005, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

Apriadi Gunawan and
Ridwan Max Sijabat
The Jakarta Post/Medan

A Boeing-737 aircraft owned by PT Mandala Airlines Indonesia
crashed into a densely populated residential area in Medan, North
Sumatra, minutes after take-off on Monday, leaving at least 149
people dead and many others seriously injured.

The ill-fated plane had 112 passengers, including three
children, and five crew members onboard. A local official said
104 of them had died in the crash, while 13 others had
miraculously survived.

At least 39 people were killed on the ground as the aircraft
slammed into Padang Bulan, a crowded residential area. Some 30
houses were destroyed by fire. Wreckage of the plane and burned
vehicles littered the usually busy Jl. Djamin Ginting, which
borders on the airport.

All of the victims were evacuated to the Adam Malik General
Hospital, Pirngadi General Hospital and several smaller hospitals
in the area.

Among the victims were North Sumatra governor Tengku Rizal
Nurdin, his predecessor Radja Inal Siregar, Regional
Representatives Council member Abdul Halim Harahap, pilot Askar
Timur, 34, and copilot Daufir Effendi, 32.

Most victims were burned beyond recognition and hospital
forensic experts are still trying to identify them.

Rizal Nurdin's body was laid out at his official residence in
the city after an identification process that lasted several
hours. He had been traveling to Jakarta to attend a meeting
between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the country's
governors.

A 3-year-old Japanese child was also killed, hospital
officials told Reuters. The child's Indonesian father and
Japanese mother were waiting for her in Jakarta. The child was
traveling with her Indonesian grandmother.

The critically injured are receiving treatment in the
intensive care units of the Adam Malik General Hospital and the
Sarah General Hospital.

Two of the survivors, Rohan Sitepu, in his 30s, and Oloan
Harahap, 45, said that the aircraft crashed soon after take-off.

"Most of the passengers were no longer sitting down and they
all panicked when the plane started to drop and clipped the roof
of a house," said Sitepu.

Harahap, who suffered serious injuries to his head and back,
said that the plane had developed engine trouble before the
crash.

Samir Tumanggor, a resident of Padang Bulan, said he saw the
tip of aircraft's left wing hit a house. The plane then flipped
over on its right side and ploughed through dozens of cars, and
passersby on the road.

"After scything through the cars and people, the plane slammed
into the road and exploded into flames," he said.

It took dozens of fire engines and hundreds of rescue workers
some 30 minutes to arrive at the scene due to the heavy traffic
congestion and the massive crowd of onlookers that had
congregated at the scene.

"The traffic jams and the crowd really hampered us in trying
to put out the blaze. As a result, it spread to adjacent houses.
This also hindered rescue workers in getting to the survivors,"
said a fireman who requested anonymity.

Hundreds of rescue workers from the Medan municipal
administration and the local military, and at least 60
ambulances, were deployed to evacuate the victims.

Aviation authorities said a joint team from the Ministry of
Transportation, Mandala and state-owned airport operator PT
Angkasa Pura II would conduct a thorough investigation into the
tragedy.

Officials said the plane's black box had been recovered.

"We don't know what the cause of the accident was. The
investigators will work hard to identify the reason for the
crash," said Haryono, an executive at Polonia Airport.

The airport, meanwhile, remained open, and arrivals and
departures were unaffected by the disaster.