At least 116 feared dead in Indonesia military plane crash: officials

At least 116 feared dead in Indonesia military plane crash: officials


Buildings were left in ruins and cars reduced to flaming wrecks when the Hercules C-130 came down in a residential area of Medan, a city of two million on the island of Sumatra.

Air 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.



Many passengers were likely to be family members of servicemen and women, said a spokesman for Medan airbase, where the plane took off. At least one child has so far been confirmed killed.









The plane took off at 12:08 pm (0508 GMT) from the airbase and crashed in the city about two minutes later, about five kilometres (three miles) from the base, according to the military.



It was the second time in a decade that Medan had suffered a fatal plane accident. A Mandala Airlines domestic flight crashed shortly after take-off in 2005 into a densely populated suburb, killing at least 150 including passengers, crew and people on the ground.


The Indonesian air force has suffered accidents before.

At least 11 people were killed when a Fokker-27 military jet crashed into a housing complex in the capital Jakarta in June 2012.

In April an F-16 fighter jet caught fire as it was about to take off from an airbase in Jakarta, prompting the pilot to jump to safety as flames and thick smoke engulfed the plane.

The pilot escaped with minor injuries from the jet, which had been due to provide security at a summit of Asian and African leaders in Indonesia.

Indonesia also has a poor civil aviation safety record, and has suffered many fatal crashes in the past.

An Indonesia AirAsia plane crashed in December en route from Indonesia's Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people on board.




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