Plane crashes on major road

A light plane carrying four people crashed today on a busy Jakarta road, killing the pilot and seriously injuring a passenger and two motorists, officials said.

Brig. Gen. Bakat Purwanto, a national police detective, died on arrival at a nearby hospital after the single-engine plane he was flying crashed on Jagorawi Highway in East Jakarta, said Jakarta Police spokesman Sgt. Tarsisius.

An Australian passenger, 50-year old Michael Wacson, is in critical condition at a local hospital.

Two motorists were also seriously injured when the plane collided with vehicles near a toll gate, said Tarsisius, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

The other passengers a man and a young boy whose identities were not available suffered light injuries.

The low-flying plane hit several trees before hitting the ground. The wings and nose of the plane were wrecked but the body of the aircraft was mostly intact, Tarsisius said.

Air force spokesman Edy Harjoko was quoted on private Metro Television as saying he suspected the aircraft had run out of fuel.

The crash caused a major traffic jam and police closed off a section of the highway.

Police said the plane appeared to have taken off on a training flight from Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport, which is near the site of the crash.

Halim is Jakarta’s second-largest airport. It is used for domestic services and is a major training hub for civilian pilots.