Seventeen killed in plane crash
JAKARTA (JP): Seventeen people were killed and four critically injured when a Cassa-100 light aircraft crashed near the South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin on Saturday.
The Dirgantara Air Service aircraft with 17 people on board bound for Sampit, Central Kalimantan, crashed into a gas factory three kilometers east of Banjarmasin's Syamsudin Noor airport.
Those killed were pilot Heri Bert and co-pilot Sofyan Noor, 14 passengers and a factory worker on the ground. The only survivor was identified as Irianto, a 40-year-old passenger.
A child and a woman from the plane died enroute to the hospital. Three factory workers were hospitalized with serious burn injuries, Antara reported.
Airport officials said the accident happened at about 3:30 p.m. local time, just minutes after the locally-built aircraft took off in the drizzly weather.
While visiting the crash site on Sunday, Transportation Minister Haryanto Dhanutiro ordered investigation into the accident.
"The IPTN (the Bandung-based National Aircraft Industry) which built the aircraft should also be involved in the investigation," he said.
The minister said provisional reports suggested that engine failure might have caused the accident.
Airport officials said the Spanish-designed aircraft's right engine caught fire soon after the plane took off.
"The pilot told the control tower of the trouble but the airplane crashed before he could return to the airport," he said. He added that the aircraft had changed direction when it crashed.
Haryanto attended the transfer of the 17 bodies to their families at the Syamsudin Noor's Air Force Hospital.
Dirgantara Air Service officials were unavailable for comment yesterday.
Antara reported that the factory belonging to PT Barox Utama Jaya that produces acetylene was burned upon the impact.
The owner of the factory said he would seek Dirgantara Air Service to his property he estimated at Rp 500 million (US$212,000).
Alimuddin, chairman of the Banjarmasin branch of the state-run insurance company PT Asuransi Jasa Raharja Putera, said the relatives of each of the dead victims are entitled to Rp 40 million and the injured Rp 10 million. (pan)