Up to 6 Killed in Indonesia Plane Crash

Tuesday November 30, 2004 1:46 PM


JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A Lion Air passenger plane carrying more than 150 people skidded off a runway in central Indonesia and split into two pieces Tuesday, killing as many as six people, airline officials and witnesses said.

As many as 24 people were injured, officials said.

The accident occurred at about 6 p.m. as the MD-82 plane landed in Solo, a thriving tourist town about 310 miles southeast of the capital, Jakarta, the station said. The plane took off from Jakarta.

Ambulances took the injured to nearby hospitals and rescuers were searching for survivors.

Media reports said it was raining and foggy at the time of the crash, but authorities so far have not released a cause. A Lion Air spokesman would only confirm that the crash occurred.

Lion Air is Indonesia's top budget airline and recently announced expansion plans. The airline said earlier this month it was buying as many as 25 new planes and expanding routes.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4644577,00.html

Fox is reporting that around 34 people have been killed in this crash. The other article was an earlier report.

Plane crash kills at least 23 in Indonesia
More than 60 injured; rescue workers search wreckage for survivorsThe Associated Press
Updated: 10:53 a.m. ET Nov. 30, 2004JAKARTA, Indonesia - A Lion Air passenger plane skidded off the runway and crashed in Central Indonesia on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people and injuring 62, police said.

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The accident occurred around 6 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) as Flight JT583 landed in heavy rain at the Adi Sumarmo airport in Solo, a thriving tourist town about 310 miles southeast of the capital Jakarta, the airline confirmed.

The MD-82 plane had taken off from Jakarta with more than 146 passengers and seven crew members aboard, airport officials said.

It stopped in the East Java town of Surabaya before heading to Solo where it skidded off the runway, broke in two and ended up in a cemetery next to the airport, airport officials said.

The airplane came to rest about 328 feet off the runway.

"The plane hit the tarmac and we all started yelling Allahu akbar (God is Great)," one passenger told Metro TV. "I grabbed a women near me and just tried to reach (the) emergency exit. Everyone around me was screaming."

Solo Police Chief Abdul Madjid told reporters that 23 people were killed and at least 62 injured from the crash.

Among them was a Singaporean woman and three children, hospital officials said.

Search for survivors
Firefighters and police officers were searching for survivors and removing the injured to waiting ambulances, media reports said.

Many were still in the plane nearly three hours after the crash, stuck inside the wreckage, media reports said.

Metro TV showed a chaotic scene at the airport, with dead and injured passengers lying on the terminal floor and crying relatives searching for news of their loved ones. The plane was sitting in darkness.

"My plane crashed. My plane crashed," one passenger screamed into a cell phone. "I've lost everything."

Lion Air spokesman Hasyim confirmed the crash and offered condolences to the dead and injured. But he said it was unclear what caused the accident, saying it would take a thorough investigation.

Earlier in the day, a passenger plane owned by low-budget Bouraq airlines skidded off the runway in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, news reports said. No one was injured.

Indonesia is an archipelagic nation with about 3,000 inhabited islands stretching across 3,000 miles.

Rapid expansion raises safety concerns
Previously, travel by slow boat was the only affordable option for most of its 210 million people "” who earn an average of $4 a day "” due to decades of steep fares set by the five, state-owned airlines under former dictator Suharto.

But when President Suharto's rule ended in 1998 amid the regional economic crisis, the newly elected government quickly deregulated the airline industry.

Since 1999, the number of carriers has jumped to 25, and the resulting price war has allowed many working-class people to afford air travel for the first time. But the rapid expansion has raised some safety concerns, since many of the airlines are small and lease planes that are decades old.

Lion Air "” one of several new no-frills airlines in Asia "” has been one of the newest stars in Indonesian skies. It remains unclear how the crash will impact on its bold expansion plans.

The airline announced earlier this month that it was leasing the little-used Halim Perdanakusma airport in Jakarta, purchasing more than 25 new planes and adding new routes.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6619256/

Indonesia drafting stricter air safety rules after crash.
AngolaPress


JAKARTA,12/04 - In the wake of a plane crash that killed 26 people this week, the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation is preparing a regulation that will require air transportation operators to employ more experienced pilots.

Minister Hatta Radjasa was quoted Saturday by The Jakarta Post newspaper as saying that the regulation would, among other things, set minimum flight hours for pilots who fly commercial planes and ensure the airworthiness of the aircraft before takeoff.

"The operators will undergo a safety audit, where a team from the transportation ministry will check whether their pilots meet the minimum flight hours requirement and regular fleet maintenance is conducted," Hatta said.

He added that the regulation was also aimed at encouraging the operators to beef up ground checks of their planes for the sake of passenger safety.

The minister did not go into details, saying the regulation was being drafted.

An MD-82 aircraft belonging to budget carrier Lion Air crashed at Adi Sumarmo Airport in the Central Java town of Solo on Tuesday after it skidded off the wet runway during a heavy rain and smashed into a wall.


Another aircraft belonging to Bouraq and an F-16 jet fighter also skidded off the runway at Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar.
"I am not going to say whether it was human error or a mechanical error or bad weather which caused the crash, because we are still conducting the investigation and we will announce the result after we have completed all necessary data," the minister said.

The government-sanctioned National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is currently conducting an investigation into the accident and has sent the plane`s "black box" to the United States.

http://www.airdisaster.com/news/1204/07/news.shtml