Investigators probe Indonesian plane crash

Investigators are examining the wreckage of an Indonesian passenger plane that crashed in stormy weather, killing at least 32 people in the county’s worst air accident in six years.

Forty others were injured when the budget carrier Lion Air plane smashed through a fence at the end of the runway and ended up in a graveyard outside Adi Sumarmo airport in Solo yesterday, according to hospital reports.

However, Lion Air and a local airport official today said 26 people were killed in the accident. The cause of the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

The aircraft was carrying 141 passengers and five crew members, and officials said all had been accounted for.

The body of the pilot of the MD-82 was recovered early today, said airline spokesman Hasyim Arsal. No other bodies were found at the scene, said Rudi Patrianto, a local airport official.

State airline safety investigators were examining the plane and collecting pieces of the fuselage. The aircraft suffered major damage to its nose and rear.

Several people being treated for injuries in hospital said they had unfastened their seatbelts when they felt the plane touch down. Arsal said this contributed to the high death toll.

“Everyone panicked and was shouting hysterically,” said survivor Dedi, who was being treated in hospital today with a broken leg. “People thought the plane was going to explode.” Dedi goes by a single name.

The airline, meanwhile, blamed bad weather for the accident.

Heavy rain and high winds were lashing the runway when the plane landed, Arsal said. He speculated that pools of rain water on the runway may have caused the plane to skid and lose control.

Lion Air is one of several budget airlines that have emerged in Indonesia since 1999 when the industry was deregulated. The rapid expansion has raised some safety concerns, since many of the airlines are small and lease planes that are decades old.

In September 1998, a Garuda Airlines Airbus crashed into a jungle-covered mountain slope in Sumatra, killing all 234 people aboard.

Two months later, a Silk Air Boeing 737 jet crashed into a river on Sumatra, killing 104 people.

Solo is about 310 miles south-east of the capital Jakarta.