YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - An Indonesian jetliner carrying 140 people burst into flames as it landed on Java island Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring 96, the airline and witnesses said.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Indonesian officials had confirmed 49 deaths, though it was not clear where that information came from. He said about 10 Australians were on board the plane.
“It is a terrible tragedy,” Howard told a nationally television news conference. “Many lives have been lost, and our love and sympathy and condolences go to those who are suffering distress and grief.”
Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said after meeting Indonesia’s president that 21 were confirmed dead and 96 others were being treated at three hospitals, some with broken bones and burns.
An airline official on the ground gave similar data, but said some passengers were thought to have walked away from the scene, making it difficult to confirm the death toll.
It was the second major airline accident in Indonesia this year.
Horrific scenes
The Garuda airlines Boeing 737-400 started shaking violently before landing at the Yogyakarta international airport and then overshot the runway, hitting fences and stopping in a rice field before 7 a.m. Some survivors said the fire began at the front the plane before engulfing the aircraft.
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TV footage taken minutes after the accident shows injured passengers lying on the field crying in agony, as the plane burned fiercely in the background, sending black smoke billowing into the air. Others walked to safety unaided, some carrying their luggage.
“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,” local Islamic leader Dien Syamsudin told El-Shinta radio station. “I saw a foreigner. His clothes were on fire and I jumped from the emergency exit. Thank God I survived.”
Another survivor told local TV station RCTI TV that “before landing I felt the plane shake strongly.”
“We overshot the runway, then I heard the sound of an explosion and ran through an emergency exit,” continued passenger Muhammad Dimyati. “I believe many passengers remained trapped on board.”
The Australians on board were diplomatic staff and journalists who were traveling from the capital, Jakarta, ahead of Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock, who had been due to attend a function later Wednesday. Neither official was aboard the stricken plane.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered a thorough investigation into the crash, appointing the security minister to look into possible “non-technical” causes, said spokesman Andi Mallarangengeng, in an apparent reference to sabotage.
“The president wants to make sure the investigation is complete. This would include technical and non-technical problems,” Mallarangengeng said without elaborating.
String of disasters
Indonesia has been hit by a string of transportation disasters in recent months. In late December, a passenger ferry sank in a storm in the Java Sea, killing more than 400 people.
Days later, a passenger plane operated by the budget airline Adam Air crashed into the ocean, killing all 102 people on board. A ship that sank near the capital’s port left at least 50 dead.
The government responded by saying it would ban local commercial airlines from operating planes more than 10 years old, though most experts say maintenance and the number of takeoffs and landings are the most important factors in preventing accidents.
Source: www.msnbc.msn.com
