Crash may be Indonesian air force’s deadliest mishap

JAKARTA — More than 100 people were feared dead after an Indonesian military transport plane ploughed into a residential area shortly after take-off in Medan yesterday, in what might be the deadliest accident yet for an air force with a long history of crashes.

“It looks like there are no survivors,” air marshal Agus Supriatna said in a televised interview, adding that 101 of the 113 people on the C-130 Hercules plane were family members of military personnel. Twelve military personnel were also on board, he said.

Air force spokesman Dwi Badarmanto said 74 bodies had been recovered so far, of which 30 had been identified and include air-force personnel and members of their families.

It was unclear whether people on the ground in Medan, a city of two million, had been killed. Television footage showed the mangled wreckage of the aircraft, with smoke billowing from the site and crowds milling around.

The transport plane, which had been in service since 1964, was making a routine flight with multiple stops scheduled. It had travelled from Jakarta and stopped at two locations before arriving in Medan. “It’s normal for family to be transported on these flights,” said Mr Gerry Soejatman, an Indonesian aviation analyst.

Eye witnesses said the 51-year-old plane had appeared to explode shortly before smashing into houses and a hotel. Mr Janson Halomoan Sinagam said several of his relatives had been on the plane when it left Medan. “We just want to know their fate,” he told MetroTV. “But we have not received any information from the hospital.”

Mr Agus Dwi Putranto, commander of the Air Force Operational Command supervising western Indonesia, said the Hercules took off from Soewondo Air Force Base in Medan at 11.48am, bound for Tanjung Pinang. The aircraft crashed two minutes later, just after the pilot requested to the air-traffic controller to “return to the base” because of engine trouble.

“It passed overhead a few times, really low,” said Golden Eleven Hotel receptionist Elfrida Efi. “There was fire and black smoke. The third time it came by, it crashed into the roof of the hotel and exploded straight away.”

Mr Badarmanto said it was unclear what had caused the crash and, until it is, eight other C-130Bs would be grounded. Although Indonesia accounted for nearly one-fifth of defence spending by South-east Asian countries last year, as a percentage of GDP, the expenditure was the lowest in the region at 0.8 per cent, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data showed.

President Joko Widodo has said he plans to double military spending to US$15 billion (S$20 billion) by 2020. However, the accident may put pressure on the President to spend more on modernising the air force.

“This incident shows us we must renew our aircraft and military equipment,” Mr Pramono Anung, a lawmaker and member of the parliamentary commission overseeing defence, told Reuters.

“The Hercules is already old. Many of our other (weapons) systems are already old. As Parliament, we will support giving more funding to the military so it can upgrade.”

Mr Widodo took to Twitter yesterday evening to express his condolences to the crash victims. “May the families affected find patience and strength,” he said.

“The evacuation of bodies from the Hercules shall be our first priority. Next is the evaluation of (the) age of the plane ... May we all be kept away from any disaster.” AGENCIES

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The crash of the C-130B Hercules aircraft, which went into service half a century ago, is bound to put a fresh spotlight on Indonesia’s woeful air safety record and its ageing planes.

The Indonesian Air Force has had five other plane crashes over the past 10 years, with 155 people killed, according to the Aviation Safety Network website. The deadliest was the 2009 crash of a C-130 near the city of Madiun in East Java that killed 97 passengers and crew members and two people on the ground. That plane hit several houses on its approach to the runway.