Military plane crashes into residential area, killing 113

C130Hercules pilot reported technical problems 2minutes after taking off

A military transport plane crashed into a residential area two minutes after takeoff in northern Indonesia on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and putting a fresh spotlight on the country's air safety record.

The C-130 Hercules aircraft, which first went into service more than 50 years ago, plunged into houses and a hotel in a built-up area of the Sumatra city of Medan, killing passengers on board and people on the ground.

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

There were at least 62 people on board the plane, a crew of 12 and about 50 passengers, military spokesman Fuad Basya told MetroTV.

"The latest information we have is that 30 have died," said Hisar Turnip of the Basarnas search and rescue agency. "The number could go up."

As of Tuesday afternoon, Adam Malik state hospital had received 30 bodies from the crash site.

Black smoke billowed from the crash site and crowds of people milled around the wreckage, hampering emergency services at the scene.

The transport plane was on its way from an air force base in Medan to the remote Natuna islands. Media reports said the pilot had asked to return because of technical problems.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 10 fatal crashes involving Indonesian military or police aircraft over the last decade. The accidents put the safety record of Indonesia's aviation and its aging aircraft under a spotlight.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 crashed less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore last December. All 162 people on board the Airbus A320 were killed.

"It's too early to say what caused today's disaster, but it will again raise concerns about air safety in Indonesia, especially since it comes just half a year after the crash of QZ8501," said Greg Waldron, Asia Managing Editor at Flightglobal, an aviation industry data and news service.

The Indonesian air force has now lost four C-130s, reducing its transport reach in an archipelagic country that stretches more than 5,000 km from its western to eastern tips.

Reuters - Xinhua - AP

(China Daily 07/01/2015 page12)