Plane skids off runway

Plane skids off runway

JAKARTA (JP): A light Cassa-212 plane, chartered by the
Swedish embassy to carry the bodies of two Swedish tourists,
skidded off the runway of El Tari airport in Kupang, East Nusa
Tenggara, after an emergency landing.

All the people onboard -- three passengers, a pilot and co-
pilot -- survived Friday's accident, Antara reported from Kupang
yesterday.

The news agency quoted an airport official as saying that the
pilot attempted to make an emergency landing after hovering for
15 minutes over the airport due to bad weather. The left wing of
the plane, operated by Merpati Nusantara Airlines, was broken off
on the landing.

Katarina Biornstad Villazor, the third secretary at the
Swedish embassy, confirmed to The Jakarta Post that the plane was
transporting the bodies of tourists Susanne Camilla Persson, 28,
and Henrik Westerlund, 29, from Ende's Haji Hassan Aroeboesman
airport in Flores, also in East Nusa Tenggara.

The tourists were killed last Monday when a storm-hit tree
fell on their losmen (boarding house) on Mount Kelimutu, known
for its three lakes with red, blue and white waters. (riz)