Indonesian military plane crash death toll hit 113 (update)
No fewer than 113 people aboard an Indonesian air force C-130 have been killed, when the plane crashed in a residential neighbourhood in the city of Medan on the northern island of Sumatra, according to military officials.
There were 12 crew members and 101 passengers on board the
plane, the AFP news agency reported, citing officials who spoke to local
television.
At least three other people are believed to have been killed
on the ground. So far, rescuers have recovered 49 bodies.
The Hercules transport plane was on its way from an air
force base in Medan to Tanjung Pinang in Sumatra.
Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker said the dead included civilian
relatives of military personnel.
"This was a C-130 military aircraft on a routine trip,
carrying soldiers and their families," she said.
Our correspondent said that two minutes into the flight, the
pilot radioed in, saying there was a "technical issue" with the
plane.
"He tried to turn back and then the plane went down
over Medan. The plane went down in a populated area, hitting two empty
buildings. That number could have been much higher."
She said that questions were now raised as to the safety of
the plane, which was built in 1964.
The Indonesian military has now opened an official
investigation to try and figure out what went wrong. The government has
grounded all C-130 aircraft while the investigation is ongoing.
Speaking shortly after the crash, Mardiaz Dwihananto, police
chief of Medan city, said several bodies had been recovered from the wreckage.
"The bodies were in [the] debris of the plane and
buildings... We are taking the bodies one by one by ambulance to Adam Malik
hospital. We haven't managed to evacuate all of the bodies," Dwihananto
said.
Local radio station, El Shinta, said earlier that the
aircraft had hit homes, but it was not immediately clear if anyone inside had
been killed or injured.
Military spokesman, Fuad Basya, said the plane took off at
around midday local time from an air force base carrying military equipment and
crashed in the city about two minutes later, about 5km from the base.
It is the second time in 10 years that a plane has crashed into
a Medan neighbourhood.
In September 2005, a Mandala Airlines Boeing 737 crashed
shortly after takeoff from Medan's Polonia airport, into a crowded residential
community, killing 143 people including 30 on the ground.
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