The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra, Fri, July 03 2015
A Hercules A-1321 airplane carrying the bodies of eight victims of a recent plane crash, and their family members, aborted its flight from Soewondo Air Force base in Medan, North Sumatra, on Friday, due to an engine malfunction.
The plane was scheduled to leave at 6:30 a.m. local time with the bodies of victims from another Hercules aircraft that crashed shortly after taking off on Tuesday in Medan as it was en route to Pekanbaru in Riau; Ranai in Natuna, Riau Islands; and Malang, East Java.
There were 113 passengers on the Hercules C-130 aircraft that crashed into a residential area on Tuesday. All passengers as well as a number of local residents were killed in the tragedy.
Air Force operation commander Rear Marshal Agus Dwi Putranto said that the engine disruption on the A-1321 aircraft was not severe.
“It was not too severe as it was like a short circuit on a battery. It is usual in missions. It could happen on any aircraft,” Agus said on Friday.
He said that due to the incident the flight was aborted to enable technicians to check and repair the aircraft.
The passengers and the victims’ bodies were transferred to another flight using a CN-235 airplane, he said. “They will depart aboard another airplane today,” he added.
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vr 3 jul 2015 - 5:41