28-03-2024 01:17 PM Jerusalem Timing

Dozens Feared Dead in Indonesian Military Plane Crash

Dozens Feared Dead in Indonesian Military Plane Crash

At least 116 people were killed when a military transport plane crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off in northern Indonesia on Tuesday

At least 116 people were killed when a military transport plane crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off in northern Indonesia on Tuesday.

plane crashAir force chief Agus Supriatna said the manifest showed there were 113 people on board the plane -- 12 crew and 101 passengers -- when it crashed, and he did not believe any had survived.
 
“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.

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.

So far, 49 bodies had been recovered and taken to hospital.

The local search and rescue agency also said that three people were killed on the ground when the 51-year-old plane went down near a newly built residential area, hitting a massage parlour and a small hotel.
  
A rescue operation swung into action, with ambulances ferrying bodies from the site, and crowds of anxious residents gathering around a police cordon to view the smouldering wreckage.