AP: Indonesian Airliner Down, All 117 Killed

[Winston]

No further details at this point.

[Winston]

BBC News says it crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off.

Indonesia jet crashes on take-off

An Indonesian passenger plane has crashed into a residential area shortly after take-off from the northern city of Medan on Sumatra island.

The aircraft, operated by the low-cost airline Mandala, is said to have been carrying at least 109 passengers.

Witnesses say the plane burst into flames after crashing.

A doctor at the scene who was overseeing the removal of bodies said at least 60 had died. Firefighters are trying to put out the fire.

The Boeing 737 was heading to the Indonesian capital Jakarta when it crashed.

"We're having a hard time getting to the bodies because of the heat," the doctor, Syahrial Anas, told AP.

The exact number of passengers has been put at 109 by Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa, while Metro TV said around 190 were on the jet.

Television images showed firefighters trying to extinguish the fire, and several destroyed vehicles and houses could be seen.

© BBC MMV

[Kuciwalker]

If it crashed into a residential area, did it kill anyone else?

[Kinjiru]

What the heck is up with all the airliners crashing lately? There have been what, five in the last 60 days? That's got to be some major anomaly, doesn't it?

I travel internationally for a living and I am very glad that we are having trouble landing new contracts, atm...

[Winston]

One would imagine there are casualties on the ground also.

They now say it crashed just one minute after take-off.

Also that among the passengers were the governor of Northern Sumatra, and his predecessor...

[Atahualpa]

doh, again?

[Jonny]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/09/05/indonesia.plane.ap/index.html

Let's see...

- Air France in Toronto (at least no one died in that one)
- that Tunisian aircraft that went down off the coast of Sicily
- then I seem to recall a commercial helicopter going down in the Baltic
- Helios in Greece
- then the ones in Venezuela and Peru
- and then this one, #7, in Medan, Indonesia

A dangerous couple of months for flying indeed.

[Gangerolf]

hmm I just read that 15 people survived

[chequita guevara]

Just what Atjeh needs.

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by Kinjiru
What the heck is up with all the airliners crashing lately? There have been what, five in the last 60 days?

[Winston]

To me, the question that arises from this seemingly increasing number of plane crashes is: Will the authorities or others ever go public with findings of terrorism being the cause of a crash, unless either

A) This fact becomes painfully obvious to everybody, like what happened on 9/11

or

B) A terrorist organization makes a public claim of "responsibility" for the crash

Specifically in the case of the Indonesian plane today, there were eyewitness reports from surviving passengers (all seated in the two back rows) of a large explosion just after take-off, at the center of the plane. And the governor of North Sumatra as well as the former governor were on the plane. Yet nobody seems to have even suggested this might have been a terror operation - nothing on the news, nothing from the authorities, and least of all from the airline operator.