Indonesian air force plane crashes, 24 killed

JAKARTA - An aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Air Force crashed Monday afternoon in West Java capital of Bandung, killing all 24 people on board, news reports and officials said.

The Fokker airplane was carrying 17 officers from the Indonesian Air Force’s special force and seven crew when it crashed at about 12.30 p.m. (0530 GMT) at Bandung’s Hussein Sastranegara airport, said air force spokesman Bambang Sulistyo.

An official at Bandung’s Salamun hospital said that several burned bodies were brought in, but he was still not sure how many people have been killed in the accident.

Earlier, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Nairiza said the plane was carrying 18 officers and seven crew members. He said it was flying from Jakarta.

‘All of them were killed in the accident,’ detik.com quoted Nairiza as saying.

An official at PT Dirgantara Indonesia, an aircraft company located opposite the airport, was quoted as saying that the plane hit the apron of the factory before it crashed.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known but it took place during heavy rain, officials said.