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Indonesian plane crashes, at least 97 dead

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-20 11:36

JAKARTA - An Indonesian military plane carrying more than 100 people crashed into several homes and burst into flames Wednesday, killing at least 97 people, officials said

Dozens of people were injured and more were feared dead, with local television flashing footage of fire engulfing the wreckage and soldiers carrying bodies on stretchers. Some were badly burned.

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Air force spokesman Bambang Sulistyo said the C-130 Hercules, carrying 112 passengers and crew, was on a routine training mission when it crashed near an air force base in East Java province. It smashed into four houses in Geplak village, before skidding into a rice field.

"We heard a loud explosion," Wardi, a villager who goes by only one name, told El-Shinta radio. He said the plane was shaking before it tumbled to the ground and appeared to have split in two.

Rustam Pakaya, the head of the health ministry's crisis centre, told Reuters by telephone 97 people had been killed and 15 injured,including some on the ground.

The country's air force has suffered a series of accidents, including a Fokker 27 plane that crashed into an airport hangar last month, killing all 24 onboard.

A series of commercial airline crashes in recent years has killed more than 120 people in Indonesia.