Plane carrying 176 passengers and crew crashes in Indonesia
Five people were injured when an airliner skidded off a runway while landing today the latest in a string of aviation accidents to hit Indonesia in the last year.
The Boeing 737-400’s right wing, hydraulic system and rear landing gear were damaged when the plane skidded 250 feet into a grass field on Batam island at Hang Nadim Airport.
The plane was carrying 176 passengers and crew from the capital, Jakarta.
The accident – the third involving low-cost carrier Adam Air in more than a year – came as the European Union was reviewing a ban imposed on Indonesian carriers following accidents in 2007 that killed more than 120 people.
The US Federal Aviation Administration also downgraded Indonesia’s rating to its lowest category.
An Adam Air spokesman said the aeroplane was reported to be in “good condition” after an inspection in December and blamed poor weather for the latest incident.
The airport said however that the visibility had been good enough for the aircraft to land safely.
Last year, an Adam Air aircraft plunged into the sea from 33,000 feet on New Year’s Day, killing all 102 people on board.
The fuselage of another Adam Air plane split in half after a hard landing a few weeks later, but no one was seriously hurt. And in March 2007 a Garuda Indonesia plane careened off a runway and burst into flames, leaving 21 dead.
The Indonesian government responded by carrying out a review of its 20 carriers, concluding that none met all safety requirements. It ordered them to improve their records or face possible closure.