U.S. team begins probe into crash

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

A team of U.S. investigators and local experts began a probe on Thursday to find the cause of Mandala Boeing-737 crash that killed 149 people in Medan, North Sumatra on Monday.

The team from the U.S. National Safety Transportation Board (NSTB) headed directly to the crash site in the densely populated Padang Bulan area on Thursday afternoon and studied the charred plane wreckage for about an hour.

The six investigators, led by William Robert English, collected evidence that could help them reveal the cause of the crash, the second-worst in the world this year.

Many curious Medan residents encircled the massive crash site and enthusiastically watched the work of the visiting team, as police security struggled to keep them at bay.

Obstacles to the investigation also came from other quarters. Soeryanto, an official with the National Commission of Transportation whose investigators are aiding their U.S. counterparts, said scavengers seen earlier roaming the crash site had taken parts of the charred plane wreckage to sell.

A frustrated Soeryanto appealed to the scavengers to return the parts to his team. "We're still having a hard time collecting evidence," said Soeryanto, noting that important engine pieces were missing. "I call on anybody who knows the whereabouts of the pieces of the plane to return them," he said as quoted by The Associated Press.

Earlier that morning, the U.S. team held talks with the Indonesian investigators and officials from Polonia Airport operator, PT Angkasa Pura II, in Medan.

Discussions centered around the preliminary findings on the possible causes of the plane crash, along with the wind direction and weather conditions when the 24-year-old Boeing 737-200 plane went down.

Emerging from the meeting, Frans Winner, the chief of the Indonesian team, said the aircraft's black box would be dispatched with the American investigators to the U.S. for further investigations. The plane's engine would be sent to aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia in Bandung for study and the plane's fuel would be shipped to a Pertamina depot in Cepu, Central Java, for analysis there, Frans said.

"We are targeting that the causes behind the plane crash can be determined within the next three months," he said.