Many killed in Indonesian military plane crash

Firstclass newsline learnt that 113 people died on Tuesday after an
Indonesian air force C-130 plane crashed into a building in city of
Medan, on the northern island of Sumatra.
Twelve crew members and 101 passengers, comprising military personnel
and their relatives, were reportedly on board of the aircraft. No
sooner than the plane took off from an air force base in neighbourhood
when it lost control, crashed on the buildings and went up in flames.
The plane was said to be heading for Tanjung Pinang in Sumatra.
The military spokesman, Fuad Basya, toldAl Jazeerathat the plane took
off at around midday local time from an air force base carrying
military equipment and crashed in the city about two minutes later,
about 5 kilometres from the base.
Police chief of Medan city, Mardiaz Dwihananto, said several bodies
had been recovered from the wreckage, noting that the evacuation was
still on.
"The bodies were in [the] debris of the plane and buildings… We are
taking the bodies one by one by ambulance to Adam Malik hospital. We
haven't managed to evacuate all of the bodies," he said.
Local radio station, El Shinta, said earlier that the aircraft had hit
homes, but it was not immediately clear if anyone inside had been
killed or injured.
"This was a C-130 military aircraft on a routine trip, carrying
soldiers and their families," she said.
"The pilot radioed in, saying there was an issue with the plane…he
tried to turn back and then the plane went down over Medan. The plane
went down in a populated area, hitting two empty buildings. That
number could have been much higher," Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker
reported.
The Indonesian military has now opened an official investigation to
try and figure out what went wrong.
It is the second time in 10 years that a plane has crashed into a
Medan neighbourhood.
In September 2005, a Mandala Airlines Boeing 737 crashed shortly after
takeoff from Medan's Polonia airport, into a crowded residential
community, killing 143 people including 30 on the ground.
Medan, with about 3.4 million people, is the third most populous city
in Indonesia after the capital Jakarta and Surabaya.
Firstclassnewsline.net