Special team to probe police aircraft crash

JAKARTA (JP): The National Police Force has formed a special team to investigate the aircraft crash, which killed all six police officers aboard, on Friday.

National Police Force spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Ratta announced on Saturday, after attending a ceremony at the police headquarters to honor the six officers, that bad weather is among the factors believed to have led to the accident.

The training aircraft, a Piper Cheyenne belonging to the National Police Force, crashed near the small village of Sirnajaya in Bogor, West Java, on Friday morning.

Capt. Suharno, Capt. Lili Ramli, Second Lt. Sudaryanto, First Lt. N.N. Saragih, Second Lt. Nico Manik and Second Sgt. Eko Permadi, were killed in the crash.

"In appreciation of their past performance, all six were promoted to higher ranks," Ratta said.

The head of the Air Police sub-unit Col. F. Wenas said that the members of the investigation team were selected from the Air Force and the National Police Force.

He said the aircraft hit a hillside in Leuweung kampong in Sirnajaya village and burned.

The six bodies, of which only that of Second Lt. Nico Manik was recognizable, were taken to the Kramajati police hospital in East Jakarta on Friday night.

The next day the bodies were taken to a National Police Force building to be formally transferred to the victims' families.

Among other police dignitaries attending the memorial ceremony were National Police Force spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Ratta and the Director of the Samapta Directorate, Brig. Gen. Ismet Ibrahim, who led the ceremony representing the Chief of the National Police Gen. Banurusman.

The Samapta Directorate supervises several units, including the Sea Police and Air Police, the Mobile Brigade and the police force animal unit.

Only one of the six deceased officers, Second Sgt. Eko Permadi, was buried in Jakarta. The remains of Nico Manik were sent for burial in Medan, North Sumatra, those of Sudaryanto to Magelang, Central Java and Lili Ramli's body was sent to Cirebon, West Java, while Suharno and Saragih were buried at the military cemetery in Tangerang, West Java.

Commenting on the crash, the Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Wiranto said the incident would not disrupt the preparations for the upcoming celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) on Oct. 5.

"We want to have aircraft formation displays during ABRI's golden jubilee celebration. These plans will not be changed, whoever performs the maneuvers," he said.

The six police officers were practicing a fly pass drill to prepare for the celebration of the Indonesian Armed Forces' anniversary.

Two aircraft were reported to have participated in the drill at the Pondok Cabe military air base in Ciputat, 20 kilometers south of Jakarta.

One of the two aircraft returned to base due to bad weather. Base contact with the other plane was lost at 8 a.m.

Police received a report that a plane had gone down from Sirnajaya village residents at noonday. A Search and Rescue team located the crash site two hours later. (01/29)