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97 killed in Indonesian military plane crash

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-20 15:02

AKARTA, Indonesia – An Indonesian military plane carrying more than 100 people crashed into several homes and burst into flames Wednesday, killing at least 97 people, officials said

Fire razes through an Indonesian Air Force C-130 cargo plane after it crashed in Magetan, East Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. The plane carrying more than 100 people crashed and burst into flames Wednesday, killing at least 97 people, officials said. [Agencies]

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Dozens were injured and more were feared dead, with local television flashing footage of fire engulfing the mangled wreckage. Black smoke billowed in the air, as soldiers carried badly burnt bodies on stretchers to waiting ambulances.

Rustam Pakaya, the head of the health ministry's crisis centre, told Reuters by telephone 97 people had been killed and 15 injured,including some on the ground. There were 112 passengers and crew on board.

Military spokesman Sagom Tamboen said the aircraft was transporting troops and their families, including at least 10 children, when it tumbled from the sky near an air force base in East Java province.

It smashed into a row of houses in Geplak village, killing three on the ground, before skidding into a rice field.

The tail of the plane and several large parts of its charred body were scattered in the paddy and nearby bushes.

It was not clear what caused the crash, the latest in a string to hit the air force.

Map locating Magetan in Indonesia where a military transport jet crashed killing at least 97 people according to a military doctor and local media.[Agencies]

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