Seven killed in commuter plane crash

Seven people were killed and three injured when a commuter plane crashed early today in the Indonesian province of Eastern Kalimantan.

The plane – an eight-seat Britten-Norman 2A owned by Dirgantara Air Service - went down minutes after take-off from Tarakan in East Kalimantan.

The plane was on an 80-minute flight to the nearby town of Lombawan, about 900 miles north east of the capital, Jakarta.

“Just two minutes after taking off, the pilot radioed that he had to return to the airport,” an airport official said.

The Indonesian part of Borneo island is covered by vast tropical forests. There are few roads and air travel is common. Because of many poor maintenance, plane crashes occur frequently.

In July, nine people were killed when a cargo version of the Britten-Norman BN-2B smashed into a mountainside while on a routine, one-hour flight in the same region.

One person survived the crash. Bruised and starving, the survivor told authorities said he had walked for five days from the crash site through the dense jungle before coming upon the village of Papadi.