Update: Scores escape flaming plane wreck
Pastor Dale Morgan
Scores escape flaming plane wreck*
POSTED: 1315 GMT (2115 HKT), March 7, 2007
Story Highlights
• NEW: Indonesian plane crashes killing 23. 117 escape
• NEW: Investigation ordered into cause of crash
• Australian Embassy staff, media were also onboard
• Survivor says evacuation was fairly orderly
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- An Indonesian passenger jet crash landed
and burst into flames on Wednesday killing 23 people trapped inside. A
further 117 people escaped, clambering through burning wreckage to
safety, witnesses and officials said.
The Garuda Airlines Boeing 737-400 exploded, shooting out flames as it
appeared to overshoot the runway at Yogyakarta, a city in central Java
island, 300 miles (500 kilometers) from the capital Jakarta, reports said.
In a CNN interview, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said
nine passengers were Australians -- a mixture of officials and media --
and four of the nine have not yet been accounted for.
Survivor Ruth Bamggadan told CNN that the plane hit the ground and
stopped suddenly. She said she saw flames outside her window. The
emergency door was opened, she said, and "quite a lot of people were
able to get out of the plane." (Watch Bamggadan describe crash drama Video)
"When we hit the ground for the last time, things started to fall down
(from the overhead bins) ... the smoke started to get in the plane.
People were really panicked," she said. But the evacuation overall was
fairly orderly, she said, with some passengers helping elderly ladies.
Bamggadan said the people sitting in the front of the plane were the
last able to get out, "because I think the emergency door was in the
middle."
"We will always remain hopeful and remain optimistic but with four
missing we're concerned about them," he said.
Australia's Downer, who attended the scene of the crash, dismissed
concerns that the cause of the crash was sabotage.
He said it appeared to be "just a straight accident where the aircraft
ran off the runway."
Indonesian air investigators arrived in Yogyakarta late Wednesday and
will investigate the plane's condition, review the weather pattern and
speak with crew members in an effort to find out what caused the plane
to erupt in flames, CNN's Kathy Quiano in Jakarta reported.
Two theories officials are looking into is whether the fiasco was caused
by equipment malfunction or human error, CNN's Dan Rivers in Yogyakarta
reported.
One airline official said when the plane touched down he saw the front
tire burst into flames, resulting in the blaze -- a possible equipment
malfunction.
Another theory was that the pilot came in too fast and overshot the
landing strip. Rivers said the airport is known for having a short
runway, according to pilots there.
"We have to wait until the complete investigation is done" before
determining the cause, Andi Mallarangeng, a spokesman for President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had spoken to Downer about
the crash and has authorized emergency aid for the injured.
"We're sending up a defense force medical team that should arrive early
tomorrow sometime and an emergency assistance team that will arrive some
time tonight," Downer told CNN Wednesday shortly before boarding a plane
from Jakarta to the crash site.
Downer had been in the country for four days hosting a ministerial
meeting on counter-terrorism in Jakarta with his Indonesian counterpart,
Hassan Wirajuda.
He said he planned to investigate the jet and visit those hospitalized
later in the day.
One hospital reported taking in 24 to 25 people from the incident, but
would not elaborate.
Staff from the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and members of the
Australian federal police and the Royal Air Force were traveling in the
business class section in the front of the plane, according to
Australian government sources. Members of the Australian press corps
were also on the flight.
Employees of the Sydney Morning Herald and a television crew from 7
Network were sitting in the back of the plane, and reported seeing a
number of fatalities, the sources said.
Sources in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra told
CNN that Downer and Attorney General Philip Ruddock were traveling on a
Royal Australian Air Force plane and were not on the Garuda Airlines flight.
The plane involved in Wednesday's crash was about 8-9 years old,
according to a Garuda Airlines spokesman.
Indonesia has suffered from a string of transportation accidents in
recent months, including an Adam Air plane that disappeared in January
with more than 100 passengers and crew on board, and a ferry sinking in
late December in which hundreds died.
The plane accident Tuesday occurred one day after a 6.3-magnitude
earthquake hit western Indonesia, killing dozens and injuring hundreds
more. (Full story)
CNN's Kathy Quiano and John Vause contributed to this report.