The bodies of all 18 people who were on board a plane that crashed into the jungle-covered mountains of western Indonesia were recovered from the wreckage yesterday, an official said.
The Spanish-designed CASA C-212 lost contact with air traffic control early on Thursday while flying from North Sumatra to Aceh Province. Minutes later, it sent out a distress signal, then dropped off the radar.
Rugged, forested terrain and bad weather had prevented rescuers from reaching the crash site by foot, and the wreckage was spotted from a helicopter on Friday in the Leuser mountains at an altitude of 1,524m.
Photo: Reuters
Early yesterday, 13 rescuers were lowered by helicopter by rope to the crash site, following two others who had reached the site just before darkness fell on Friday.
“They found the bodies in their seats with their seat belts on,” Sunarbowo Sandi, head of the local search-and-rescue team, said from his monitoring post in a village near the crash site in the Bahorok region, about 1,500km northwest of the capital, Jakarta.
The bodies included all 14 passengers and four crew members. Four of the dead were children.
Hopes had been raised that there may be survivors after the aircraft was spotted intact with one of its doors open and rescuers dropped food and medicine down to the crash site.
The victims’ relatives, who had been waiting for information, broke down in tears when they learned that their loved ones were found dead. Many of them accused the airline — PT Nusantara Buana Air — of taking far too long to give them information.
“The rescue operation was too slow and unprofessional,” said Rosmawati Harahap, who lost her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in the crash. However, rescuers insisted that tornado-like winds and heavy fog hampered their efforts to reach the crash site.
“The conditions were really bad,” said Sandi, the search-and-rescue official, adding that rescuers were further hampered by the mountainous terrain and impenetrable forests.
Robur Rizallianto, a safety manager with the airline, said “all efforts” were made to try to save the passengers.
It was unclear what caused the crash, and Indonesia’s transportation safety commission was investigating the accident.
The aircraft, made in Indonesia in 1989, was last inspected on Sept. 22, according to Rizallianto.
It was in good condition and a check ahead of takeoff on Thursday also came up clean, he said.
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation of 240 million people, has been plagued by transportation accidents in recent years, from plane and train crashes to ferry sinkings. Many accidents are blamed on overcrowding and poor safety standards.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was