Cause of Indonesian military plane crash unknown
JAKARTA, INDONESIA— A military aircraft carrying 122 people crashed into a neighbourhood in the Indonesian city of Medan on Tuesday, killing all those aboard, according to the chief spokesman of the country’s armed forces.
By late Tuesday evening, more than 140 bodies had been recovered as search and rescue efforts continued. The military’s chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. Fuad Basya, said there were no survivors among the crew and passengers. The extent of casualties among civilians on the ground was unknown, as was the cause of the crash.
Air Chief Marshal Agus Supriatna said in a televised interview that 101 of the people on the C-130 Hercules were family members of military personnel. Twelve military personnel were also aboard, he said.
Images carried on local television and posted online showed onlookers gathered around burning buildings at the scene of the crash, with several ambulances and fire trucks trying to make their way through the crowd. Medan is a city of two million on the island of Sumatra.
Agus said the crash occurred shortly after the plane took off from the Soewondo airbase in Medan. The pilot had asked for permission to return to base, he said.
The plane was making a routine flight, with multiple stops scheduled. “It’s normal for family to be transported on these flights,” said Gerry Soejatman, an Indonesian aviation analyst.
The Indonesian Air Force has had five other plane crashes over the past 10 years, with 155 people killed, according to the Aviation Safety Network website.
The deadliest was the 2009 crash of a C-130 near the city of Madiun in East Java that killed 97 passengers and crew members and two people on the ground. That plane hit several houses on its runway approach.
Indonesia has a troubled history of air safety, including several crashes in and around Medan. In 2005, a Boeing 737-200 operated by Mandala Airlines, a low-cost carrier, overran a runway during a failed takeoff there, killing 100 passengers and crew members and 49 people on the ground.
An Airbus A300 flown by Garuda Indonesia crashed on approach to Medan in 1997, killing 234 people.