REUTERS, Tue Mar 7, 2007 9:10 PM ET
Garuda Indonesia jet burns after airport crash
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A jet from Indonesia's state carrier Garuda crashed and burst
into flames on landing at Yogyakarta airport on Wednesday morning with 140
passengers and crew on board, according to Garuda officials.
[PHOTO: Smoke pours from the wreckage of a plane at Yogyakarta airport.]
Casualties were not immediately clear, but survivors said many people had escaped
the burning plane.
"The manifest shows 133 passengers and we have seven active crew on board," a
Garuda spokeswoman told Reuters.
Australian media said the plane's passengers included Australian journalists and
diplomatic staff. The journalists had been covering a visit to Indonesia by Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer, who was not on the plane but had been expected in
Yogyakarta later in the day.
"It happened when it overshot beyond the runway and burst into flames," Yogyakarta
provincial secretary Bambang Susanto told Reuters through texted messages.
"... we know that there are passengers being treated at the air force hospital," he
added. Elshinta news radio said 16 injured people had been taken to hospital.
"The plane overshot the runway during landing and hit the airport fences," Julianto,
one of the survivors, told Metro TV
"I was sitting at the back of the plane and people started to jump out of the plane after
that. Some even jumped into the paddy field," he said.
The plane's fuselage was burned to a twisted shell, and thick white smoke spewed
from the wreckage.
State news agency Antara said the flight number was GA-200, which would be a
Jakarta to Yogyakarta flight that is generally using a Boeing 737.
Indonesia has suffered from a string of transport accidents in recent months, including
an Adam Air plane that disappeared in January with 102 passengers and crew on
board, and a ferry sinking in late December in which hundreds died.
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