Yogyakarta (AsiaNews) – The death toll from last night’s airplane disaster in Yogyakarta, central Java, currently stands at 49 victims. The Ga-200 flight from the capital Jakarta, violently crashed onto the runway during landing and immediately burst into flames.
A spokesman for Garuda airlines confirmed the death toll and added: “all other 93 passengers including the crew have survived”.
Among the survivors is Dim Syamsuddin, president of Muhammadiyah (an important Indonesian Islamic organization), who was due to welcome the Australian foreign minister to Yogyakarta. “I was sleeping when the airplane violently hit the runway twice – he says – I heard screams. It was dark and there was smoke everywhere. I saw many injured passengers, but I succeeded in getting to safety”.
Australian diplomats and journalists numbered among the passengers, in Indonesia to cover foreign minister Alexander Downer’s visit. Downer was not onboard the plane but was expected in Yogyakarta within a few hours. .
Australian premier John Howard has not yet confirmed the death of Australian citizens, but has told his yellow countrymen to “prepare themselves for the worst”.
Victims and survivors have been brought to diverse local hospitals. Almost all those hospitalized present serious burns, while Iwan, a local doctor explains that the real problem at the moment is victim identification “who have their faces burnt beyond recognition”.
This latest tragedy is the most recent in a series of disasters that have marked the Indonesian transport system in the last few months. The most serious remains the sinking of a passenger ferry December last with a death toll well into the hundreds, as well as the disappearance of an Adam Air flight with over 102 people on board, believed to have crashed into the sea in January.
