Deadly industry for Indonesia
Nation’s aviation sector has suffered a string of fatal crashes over the years
JAKARTA: The crash of a new Lion Air Boeing-737 MAX into the sea, minutes after taking off from Jakarta, is the latest in a series of air accidents to rock the archipelago.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands, but has suffered a string of deadly plane crashes in recent years.
The aviation sector is expanding fast as the economy booms, but there are concerns that airlines are struggling to find enough welltrained personnel to keep up with the rapid growth.
Once banned from European airspace over safety fears, the European Union removed all Indonesian airlines from its safety blacklist this year following improvements.
Here are the worst aviation disasters in the nation’s history:
Northern Sumatra
The worst disaster in Indonesia’s aviation history left 234 dead in 1997. An Airbus A-300B4 operated by national carrier Garuda Indonesia crashed in a smog-shrouded ravine in North Sumatra, just short of Medan’s airport.
Java Sea
In 2014, an AirAsia plane plunged into the Java Sea during stormy weather, killing 162 people. The Malaysian airline was flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
Medan disaster
A Mandala Airlines domestic flight crashed shortly after take-off in 2005 into a densely populated suburb in Medan, a city of two million on the island of Sumatra, killing at least 150, including passengers, crew and people on the ground.
Military families
In June 2015, an Indonesian military plane crashed shortly after take-off, also coming down in a residential area in Medan, killing around 122 people on board, many of them servicemen and their families. Around 20 people were also killed on the ground and several housing blocks torn apart.
Air Force fire
In 1991, an Air Force plane crashed in East Jakarta minutes after take-off when an engine caught fire, killing 135 people. Those who died included 121 airmen, 12 crew and two people on the ground. One passenger survived.
River crash
In 1997, a Silk Air flight crashed into a river near the Indonesian city of Palembang while on its way to Singapore from Jakarta. All 104 passengers and crew were killed in what was investigated as a possible pilot murder-suicide.
New Year’s Day crash
An Adam Air plane plunged into the sea off Sulawesi island on New Year’s Day 2007, killing all 102 people on board. The airline was later banned from flying. Indonesian authorities said the pilots lost control after becoming preoccupied with malfunctioning navigational equipment.