Indonesian Jet Crashes on Takeoff in Sumatra, Killing 143

JANE PERLEZ - New York Times: "An Indonesian passenger plane crashed into a crowded neighborhood shortly after takeoff in the northern city of Medan on Monday, killing 104 people aboard and 39 on the ground.

The operator, Mandala Airlines, said 13 people sitting in the rear had survived the fire that engulfed the plane, a Boeing 737, when it hit a busy road 500 yards from the airport in midmorning. About 20 houses caught fire, and cars on the road, a major route to the airport, were ablaze. People with their clothes on fire screamed for help, and drivers later described escaping their burning vehicles.

Several survivors said the plane, which had been headed for this capital, had made a shaky takeoff and crashed just as the flight attendant finished the announcement about safety procedures.

"When the plane started to take off it was shaking," Fredy Ismail, 53, a survivor who was treated at Adam Malik Hospital, told a local radio station. "The stewardess was going to sit down after making her announcement when the plane crashed."

Mr. Ismail said he had been in seat 20E, near the lavatory in the tail of the plane. After the crash, a wall in the back of the plane cracked open and he managed to crawl through it before the fire broke out, he said. About 10 other people also escaped through the tail area, he said.

Another survivor, Rohaid Sitepu, said the plane had swerved to the left immediately after takeoff. "Then a ball of fire came from the front of the plane toward the end," Mr. Sitepu told Metro TV, a major news channel.

Mandala Airlines, a low-fare carrier partly owned by the Indonesian military, said the plane had 112 passengers and a crew of 5. The airline, a relatively small carrier, is one of the oldest in Indonesia. Its fleet of 15 planes consists mainly of aging 737-200 jets like the one that crashed Monday, which was nearly 25 years old, the airline said. The plane was to be retired in 2016.

Among the passengers who died was Rizal Nurdin, governor of the province of North Sumatra. Medan, one of Indonesia's most populous cities, is the provincial capital and serves as the gateway to the tsunami-ravaged region of Aceh, to the northwest.

The airline said the only foreigners on board had been two Chinese. Its director, Asril Tanjung, said the cause of the crash was being investigated. He said that pilot error, mechanical failure or weather - though it was not raining when the plane crashed - might have been the cause, and that foul play was considered unlikely.

The plane broke into many pieces, sending burning debris over a wide arc of territory. Only the wing section was left intact. The driver of a minibus, Firman Tanjung, 29, was reported on a Web site as having said that a piece of the plane had hit his vehicle.

Flames came into his car and he heard a loud explosion, he said from a bed in the intensive care unit of Adam Malik Hospital. His minibus, which he used as a taxi, was destroyed, but he managed to get his two passengers out of the fire, he said.

A bystander, Monang Batara, 27, was quoted as saying that he had heard an unusual sound from the plane as it took off and then saw it crash through the airport fence. As it fell, the plane's wheel hit a house and split it in two, he said.

In the emergency room of the hospital, members of the medical staff said many bodies had been burned beyond recognition, Metro TV reported. Rescue workers first struggled against the intense heat of the crash as they picked through the wreckage looking for survivors, then worked in the rain that began to fall. "