The Jakarta Globe, June 10, 2013.
Kupang. A Merpati Nusantara airplane carrying 50 passengers was forced to make a crash landing at El Tari airport, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Monday.
“Thank God, all passengers are safe,” said Imam Purnomon, the general manager of airport-operator Angkasa Pura Kupang.
Imam said that the Chinese-made M60 airplane had come from Bajawa, in Flores, and there had been no report of any malfunction from the pilot while it was on its way to Kupang. He said the airplane undershot the runway when coming into land.
“We were very surprised… the front wheels broke, causing the two propellers to break, too, when they hit the ground,” Imam said.
He said the plane was carrying 49 adults and one child, adding that the written-off plane remained on the runway, forcing the airport to close.
At least nine flights had to be immediately postponed, and a total of 21 flights would be affected if the airport was unable to reopen today, he said.
“We are trying to evacuate the airplane,” Imam said.
Detikcom said that one passenger was injured and had been taken to the nearest hospital, but the report could not immediately be confirmed.
The head of the aviation sub-committee at the National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT), Masruri, said a team would be immediately deployed to Kupang to investigate the cause of the accident.
“We will depart immediately, the plane was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder, we don’t want to make predictions. We only know that the plane is now blocking the runway but all passengers survived, we will know more after we gather the evidences,” he said.
ma 10 jun 2013 - 7:32