Death toll in military plane crash rises to 141

• Indonesia’s air force said Wednesday it will investigate if the transport plane that crashed into a city neighbourhood, killing 141 people, was violating orders by carrying paying passengers.

The dead included all 122 on the plane, including military personnel and family members, and people living in a residential area of Medan city where the C-130 Hercules hit the ground soon after takeoff Tuesday, North Sumatra police Maj. A. Tarigan said.

The final death toll may not be known for some time.

The cause of the accident is not yet known, but the pilot was trying to return to the airport because of an engine problem. At Adam Malik Hospital where bodies were taken, regional military commander Edy Rahmayadai said the rescue operation involving hundreds of soldiers and police had finished.

The C-130 was carrying many more passengers than the military first reported. Initially, the air force said there were 12 crew on the 51-year-old plane and did not mention passengers.

It then repeatedly raised the number of people on board, indicating lax controls and raising questions about whether the plane was accepting paying passengers despite previous promises to crack down on the practice.

Hitching rides on military planes to reach remote destinations is common in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that spans three time zones. The plane had travelled from the capital, Jakarta, and landed at two locations before stopping over at Medan on Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s main islands.

Air force chief Air Marshal Agus Supriatna said the C-130 was only

Hitching rides on military planes ... is common in Indonesia

authorized to carry military personnel and their families. He said he would investigate allegations of paying passengers.

A copy of the manifest seen by The Associated Press shows 32 passengers with no designation. The rest are described as military or military family members. In some circumstances, civilians such as government officials or researchers can get authorization to fly on military planes, said Supriatna.

Dozens of relatives gathered at the hospital Wednesday. Outside its mortuary, more than 100 wood coffins were arranged in rows, and women cried and screamed the names of loved ones killed in the disaster.

Indonesia has a patchy civil aviation safety record, and its cashstrapped air force has suffered a series of accidents. In 2007-09, the European Union barred Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe because of safety worries.

The most recent civilian airline disaster was in December, when an AirAsia jet carrying 162 crashed into the sea en route from Surabaya to Singapore.

There have been five fatal crashes involving air force planes since 2008, according to the Aviation Safety Network, which tracks aviation disasters.

President Joko Widodo said he ordered the defence minister and armed forces commander to carry out a “fundamental overhaul” of the management of military equipment.

“We can no longer simply buy weapons, but should think to modernize our weapons systems” he said. “We have to be involved from the beginning in design, production, operations, training, maintenance and elimination of aged weapons.”