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)