Crews combed the smoldering wreckage of a military plane crash in Indonesia Tuesday as family members of the victims searched for answers.
Military personnel and their family members, civilians and some students were among the passengers onboard a C-130 Hercules plane that left Jakarta Tuesday and made two stops before crashing near a residential neighborhood in Medan, Indonesia. So far, 86 bodies have been recovered from the crash site, said Zulkifli, an Indonesian Red Cross official who goes by a single name.
Air Marshal Agus Supriatna, Indonesia’s air force commander, said the C-130 Hercules initially took off from Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport on Tuesday with 122 people aboard — 110 passengers and 12 crew members. But it is not certain how many people were on the plane when it crashed. It made two stops along the way to Medan, in Pekanbaru and Dumai.
Local television broadcast images of crowds gathering around the wreckage of the plane amid damaged buildings and a charred car. Black smoke rose among scorched buildings.
It was not known what caused the disaster.
Maj. Gen. Fuad Basya, an Indonesian military spokesman, said the aircraft, built in the United States in the 1960s, had been inspected and cleared to fly before it took off from Soewondo Air Force Base in Medan. The crash site is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the air base, he said.
The plane was carrying logistical supplies for bases on other Indonesian islands. Sometimes, Indonesian civilians also hitch rides on military flights to get to islands which might otherwise be inaccessible.
The military set up command posts in Jakarta and Medan to help the victims’ families, Supriatna said.
Indonesia’s national news agency Antara reported that the plane hit a busy road that connects Medan with the highland tourist resort of Brastagi.