Wheels ‘snapped off’ Indonesian plane

THE front wheels snapped off an Indonesian plane as it crash-landed and skidded into a rice field where it burst into flames, investigators said yesterday as they probed Indonesia’s second deadly plane crash this year.

Teams of forensic doctors struggled to identify the 21 people killed, most of them burned beyond recognition by the fireball that reached 600 degrees Celsius as it tore through the Garuda Airlines Boeing 737-400.

“In everyday language, parts of their bodies turned into charcoal,” police doctor said Col Slamet Pornomo, adding that jewellery, and in some cases teeth, melted.

The crash – which came nine weeks after another Boeing 737 plunged into the sea, killing all 102 people on board – put the spotlight back on Indonesia’s patchy aviation safety record.

In 2005, a Mandala Airlines passenger jet slammed into a neighbourhood, killing 149 people.

“The regulations are good, but the problem is in implementing them,” said aviation analyst Dudi Sudibyo, noting that pilots are overworked and there are not enough flight inspectors.

Investigators working among the debris recovered the plane’s recorders and sent them for analysis to Australia, which lost at least four citizens in the accident, said crash investigator Ruth Simutupang.

Authorities said there was no indication of sabotage or a mid-air explosion – a lingering fear in a country that has seen a series of terror attacks in recent years.