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JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A Singapore-operated jet carrying at least 104
people plunged into a river Friday on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. All aboard were
feared dead -- including five Americans -- as rescuers in boats recovered body parts, IDs
and luggage.
A police officer said the SilkAir Boeing 737 plane broke into pieces
when it hit the water in a swampy area 35 miles north of Palembang. The plane was midway
on its flight from Jakarta to Singapore.
Channel 5 television in Singapore quoted an official at Palembang
airport, identified as Ms. Rukmanida, as saying the crash occurred 10 miles from the
airport. The report did not say if the plane was trying to make an emergency landing.
SilkAir, a division of Singapore Airlines, said Flight MI-185 was
carrying 97 passengers and seven crew members. However, the head of Indonesian air
transportation, Zainuddin Sikado, was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying
106 people were aboard, including nine crew members.
The wreckage was spotted near the village of Parit 12 in a swampy
coastal area inaccessible by road, Antara reported.
A water police officer said the plane crashed into the Musi River,
which winds through a large swamp on its way to the sea. Most of the wreckage sank soon
after impact, he said on condition of anonymity.
The weather at the time of the crash was fine, although it was raining
heavily when rescuers arrived in the evening, the policeman said.
SilkAir officials in Singapore said the passengers included 40 people
from Singapore, 23 Indonesians, 10 Malaysians, five Americans and 14 Europeans.
In Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board dispatched an
investigating team to the crash site, including an explosives technician, said Drucie
Andersen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman. She said the investigators were
sent to look after U.S. interests but declined to elaborate.
The plane left Jakarta's Soekarno Hatta Airport in mid-afternoon and
was scheduled to land at 6 p.m. in Singapore, the airline said.
Mah Bow Tan, Singapore's communications minister, said the last radio
contact at 5:15 p.m. gave no sign of trouble. Indonesians alerted SilkAir that the plane
was missing about 40 minutes later.
At Singapore's Changi Airport, relatives and friends of passengers were
summoned to SilkAir's offices. Some were crying when they arrived.
The airport arrivals screen read "Delayed. Ask airline" for
Flight MI-185.
Mah said Singapore and Indonesian authorities were doing everything
possible to speed rescue efforts.
SilkAir said the plane, a Boeing 737-300, was 10 months old and was the
newest aircraft in its fleet.
It was leased from General Electric Capital Auto Financial Services
Inc. on Feb. 14 and was sold by GECAS to MC Aircraft (Europe) Ltd. on Oct. 30, SilkAir
added.
The carrier, formed in 1975 as the holiday operator arm of Singapore
Airlines, planned a special flight Saturday morning to transport relatives to the crash
site.
Boeing, the airplane maker, is assembling a team to help with the
investigation, company spokeswoman Susan Bradley said Friday.
This was the second major commercial jetliner crash on Sumatra in three
months.
On Sept. 26, an Indonesian-owned Garuda Airbus A-300 crashed into a
jungle slope and exploded, killing all 234 crew and passengers aboard as it approached the
city of Medan in north Sumatra.
An investigation into that crash is continuing. Reports indicated there
was confusion between the pilot and an air traffic controller. Poor visibility from a
smoky haze covering Southeast Asia also may have been a factor. The haze has since
dissipated.
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