In Reply to: Garuda plane bursts into flames.. posted by gadisdesa on Wednesday, 7. March 2007 at 09:18 Bali Time:
A NUMBER of Australians are among 50 passengers reportedly unaccounted for following the crash of a Garuda jetliner in the Indonesia city of Yogykarta this morning.
One of the injured survivors is Sydney Morning Herald journalist Cynthia Banham. Sky News said another Australian on board the plane was in hospital with serious burns.
The Australian passengers include one foreign affairs department official, a federal policeman and "at least five media representatives".
The media representatives were covering Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's visit to Indonesia.
Mr Downer was not believed to be on the flight.
Panti Rini Hospital's Dr Vishnu told NEWS.com.au that the hospital had received 23 passengers from the accident, with two to three suffering serious burns and fractures that required surgery.
He could not confirm if any of the patients were Australians.
Yogykarta Airport officials told NEWS.com.au that the Boeing 737-400, believed to be carrying 140 passengers, caught fire three minutes before landing at 7am local time (1100 AEDT).
Indonesia's Minister of Transport Hatta Rajasa told Indonesia's Metro TV station that 76 passengers survived the crash.
Captain Yos Bintoro, an airport official, told Elshinta radio that he "saw many bodies, dozens of badly bodies badly burnt near the exit.
"I saw people dead in the cockpit. I cannot say if that's the pilot or co-pilot," he said.
TV footage later showed the gutted and smoking fuselage of the plane in a rice field, after apparently having overshot the runway.
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"The plane is completely burnt. The fire erupted suddenly from the front wheel," one witness, Hariman, told ElShinta radio.
"There were three loud explosions when the plane was trying to land.
"It was immediately followed by huge fire, which engulfed the jetliner."
One unnamed passenger told the radio she had managed to escape from the plane in the panic and that many passengers were still behind her. She said she was unsure if they were trapped or had managed to get out.
"It is true that a plane caught fire while landing. It happened when it overshot beyond the runway and burst into flames," Yogyakarta provincial secretary Bambang Susanto said.
Local Islamic leader Dien Syamsudin said: "Before the plane landed it was shaking. Suddenly there was smoke inside the fuselage, it hit the runway and then it landed in a rice field.
"I saw a foreigner. His clothes were on fire and I jumped from the emergency exit. Thank God I survived."
Mr Syamsudin, the head of the second largest Islamic organisation in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah, had been due to meet Mr Downer in Yogjakarta today.
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said the crash was a tragedy.
"I don't have any further details at this time but the Department of Foreign Affairs will be trying to get further information," he said in Canberra.
"Once the Government has further information an announcement will be made