MEDAN, Indonesia — An Indonesian air force transport plane carrying military personnel and their families plowed into a residential neighborhood in the country's third-largest city, Medan, shortly after takeoff Tuesday, killing dozens.
Television footage showed the mangled wreckage of the C-130 Hercules, a crumpled burning car and a shattered building that local media said was recently built and contained a spa, shops and homes. Smoke billowed from the site, and several thousand people milled nearby. Rescue teams scrambled over the rubble, searching for any survivors.
Air force chief Air Marshall Agus Supriatna said 49 bodies have been recovered and taken to Medan's Adam Malik hospital. He said survivors are unlikely.
The plane's manifest showed there were 50 people on the flight from Medan to the remote Natuna island chain, according to North Sumatra police chief Eko Hadi Sutedjo, but the actual number might be higher.
Supriatna said there were 12 crew and more than 100 passengers on the plane before it reached Medan on Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main islands. It had traveled from the capital, Jakarta, and stopped at two locations before arriving at Medan. The air force is still to trying to determine how many people got off or boarded during that journey.
Many passengers were families of military personnel. Hitching rides on military planes to reach remote destinations is common in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that spans three time zones.
Read Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.