Mass casualties in Indonesian military plane crash

Indonesian security forces and firefighters search through the wreckage of an Indonesian military C-130 Hercules transport plane after it crashed into a residential area in the North Sumatra city of Medan, Indonesia, June 30, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

JAKARTA - Some 113 people were feared dead after a military plane carrying them crashed into the downtown of Indonesia's North Sumatra capital city of Medan, the country's Air Force chief said on Tuesday.

Some 101 civilians and 12 military crew were on board the C-130 Hercules plane, Air Marshall Agus Supriatna told a local TV channel in Medan.

The Air Force chief also said that 23 bodies have been identified in Adam Malik hospital in Medan from 49 body bags received by the hospital as of the afternoon.

"In the PAUM (Military Air Transport Flight) mission, besides carrying logistics the plane also carried troops transferred to serve in several regions along with their family members. We are yet to have information on how many family members each troop had carried along in the plane," Agus said.

However, local media reports said that the plane also carried civilian passengers that are not from military families, who were picked up from airports it stopped over prior to the crash.