INDONESIA-MILITARY/CRASH-WRECKAGE Rescuers search for victims in wreckage of crashed military flight

Record ID: 149002

  • Title: INDONESIA-MILITARY/CRASH-WRECKAGE Rescuers search for victims in wreckage of crashed military flight
  • Date: 30th June 2015
  • Summary: MEDAN, INDONESIA (JUNE 30, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RESCUERS AT CRASH SITE / CHARRED REMAINS OF BUILDINGS AND C-130B HERCULES PLANE VARIOUS OF RESCUERS EVACUATING BODIES FROM WRECKAGE RESCUER CARRYING BODY INTO BACK OF HEARSE POLICE AT SCENE OF WRECKAGE / SMOKE RISING UP FROM WRECKAGE POLICE WALKING THROUGH CRASH SITE RESCUERS AT CRASH SITE ENGINE WRECKAGE VARIOUS OF PEO
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADQKPW31MV6OV19JZ5VC270BGN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Rescuers pulled out more bodies from the wreckage of an Indonesian military plane that crashed shortly after taking off on Tuesday (June 30).
    Rescuers lined-up in front of the wreckage to pass bodies to an awaiting hearse as at least 49 people are reported to have died in the crash.
    The military transport plane crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off in northern Indonesia on Tuesday, and the death toll looked set to rise after it emerged that more than 100 people had been on board.
    "It looks like there are no survivors," Air Marshal Agus Supriatna told Metro TV in the Sumatra city of Medan, adding that some of the 113 passengers were air force families.
    The crash of the C-130B Hercules aircraft, which went into service half a century ago, is bound to put a fresh spotlight on Indonesia's woeful air safety record and its ageing planes.
    Officials said the plane plunged into a built-up area of the Sumatra city of Medan. Eye witnesses said it had appeared to explode shortly before it smashed into houses and a hotel.
    Metro TV reported that 49 bodies had been brought to a nearby hospital. In the first hours after the crash officials had said that only a crew of 12 service personnel were on board.
    Black smoke billowed from the wreckage and crowds of people milling around the area initially hampered emergency services rushing to the scene.
    The Hercules transport plane was on its way from an air force base in Medan to Tanjung Pinang in Sumatra. Media said the pilot had asked to return because of technical problems.
    "It passed overhead a few times, really low," said Elfrida Efi, a receptionist at the Golden Eleven Hotel.
    "There was fire and black smoke. The third time it came by it crashed into the roof of the hotel and exploded straight away," she told Reuters by telephone.
    According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 10 fatal crashes involving Indonesian military or police aircraft over the last decade. The accidents put under a spotlight the safety record of Indonesia's aviation and its ageing aircraft.
    AirAsia flight QZ8501 crashed less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore last December. All 162 people on board the Airbus A320 were killed.
    The Indonesian air force has now lost four C-130s, reducing its transport reach in an archipelagic country that stretches more than 5,000 km from its western to eastern tips.
    Air force spokesman Dwi Badarmanto said it was unclear what caused the crash and, until it was, eight other C-130Bs would be grounded.
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