plane crash kills at least 21** (update) people in Indonesia
Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:51 pm
Wed Mar 7 2007
1:26pm Melbourne Time
Australian journalists and officials were on board a flaming passenger jet that crash-landed in a paddy field in Indonesian today, killing at least eight people.
Reports say the Garuda jet was carrying 140 passengers and crew when it caught fire as it came in to land in the central Java city of Yogyakarta about 11am (AEST) today.
Australians are among almost 50 people unaccounted for. Indonesian officials say 76 people survived, with 66 taken to hospitals.
The plane apparently overshot the runway during landing and hit the airport fences.
Television footage showed thick smoke spewing from the plane's fuselage. The nose appeared to have broken off and much of the top half of the fuselage was missing.
Sky News is reporting at least five Australian journalists were on board, as well as officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Federal Police.
One report quoted Indonesian officials as saying dozens of people had been burnt to death in the crash.
The plane is completely burnt. The fire erupted suddenly from the front wheel. Before the plane landed it was shaking. Suddenly there was smoke inside the fuselage, it hit the runway and then it landed in a rice field. Television footage showed a gutted aircraft with only the tail fin intact, with police and onlookers standing nearby.
Operations director of national carrier Garuda Captain Ari Sapari said efforts were made to rescue passengers onboard the Boeing 737-400.
A DFAT spokesman said a crisis centre had been set up in Canberra and "embassy officials are on the ground in Jakarta and are liaising with emergency officials".
"We will have updates coming in throughout the course of the afternoon," he said.
The Detikcom news website said the crashed plane was a Garuda jet from the country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. flying to Yogjakarta, on the main Indonesian island of Java, from the capital Jakarta.
It said ambulances and fire trucks had rushed to the scene.
Latest in string of accidents
Indonesia's flight safety record has come under renewed scrutiny since an Adam Air Boeing 737-400 with 102 people on board crashed into the sea off the island of Sulawesi on New Year's Day with no survivors.
Just last Friday a Boeing 737-200 operated by local Indonesian carrier Merpati Nusantara was forced to make an emergency landing on Batam Island after the pilot reported a dangerous oil leak.
The steady stream of accidents and safety scares involving Indonesian airlines has forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to form a team to evaluate and improve transport safety.
Indonesia's state news agency Antara said the plane crashed and exploded at 7am local time (11am AEDT) and passengers were trapped inside the burning fuselage.
The make and type of the aircraft was not immediately available, but Antara said the flight number was GA-200, which would be a Jakarta to Yogyakarta flight.
-end-
1:26pm Melbourne Time
Australian journalists and officials were on board a flaming passenger jet that crash-landed in a paddy field in Indonesian today, killing at least eight people.
Reports say the Garuda jet was carrying 140 passengers and crew when it caught fire as it came in to land in the central Java city of Yogyakarta about 11am (AEST) today.
Australians are among almost 50 people unaccounted for. Indonesian officials say 76 people survived, with 66 taken to hospitals.
The plane apparently overshot the runway during landing and hit the airport fences.
Television footage showed thick smoke spewing from the plane's fuselage. The nose appeared to have broken off and much of the top half of the fuselage was missing.
Sky News is reporting at least five Australian journalists were on board, as well as officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Federal Police.
One report quoted Indonesian officials as saying dozens of people had been burnt to death in the crash.
The plane is completely burnt. The fire erupted suddenly from the front wheel. Before the plane landed it was shaking. Suddenly there was smoke inside the fuselage, it hit the runway and then it landed in a rice field. Television footage showed a gutted aircraft with only the tail fin intact, with police and onlookers standing nearby.
Operations director of national carrier Garuda Captain Ari Sapari said efforts were made to rescue passengers onboard the Boeing 737-400.
A DFAT spokesman said a crisis centre had been set up in Canberra and "embassy officials are on the ground in Jakarta and are liaising with emergency officials".
"We will have updates coming in throughout the course of the afternoon," he said.
The Detikcom news website said the crashed plane was a Garuda jet from the country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. flying to Yogjakarta, on the main Indonesian island of Java, from the capital Jakarta.
It said ambulances and fire trucks had rushed to the scene.
Latest in string of accidents
Indonesia's flight safety record has come under renewed scrutiny since an Adam Air Boeing 737-400 with 102 people on board crashed into the sea off the island of Sulawesi on New Year's Day with no survivors.
Just last Friday a Boeing 737-200 operated by local Indonesian carrier Merpati Nusantara was forced to make an emergency landing on Batam Island after the pilot reported a dangerous oil leak.
The steady stream of accidents and safety scares involving Indonesian airlines has forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to form a team to evaluate and improve transport safety.
Indonesia's state news agency Antara said the plane crashed and exploded at 7am local time (11am AEDT) and passengers were trapped inside the burning fuselage.
The make and type of the aircraft was not immediately available, but Antara said the flight number was GA-200, which would be a Jakarta to Yogyakarta flight.
-end-