Indonesian Plane Breaks in Two, Injuring 78
A passenger plane bounced on the runway while it was landing, skidded, crashed into a nearby shallow canal, and broke in two. This accident happened in the morning of April 13, 2010 in Manokwari, a remote area in eastern Papua, Indonesia. Out of the 103 passengers, which included three infants and three children, 78 were injured and no one was killed.
Bambang Ervan, the Transportation Ministry’s spokesperson, said that the Boeing 737-300 aircraft was attempting to land at the airport located in the coastal town of Manokwari and that investigators are analyzing the cause of the crash.
Some reports said that bad weather may have been one of the factors.
The airline is called Merpati, a state-owned airline known to provide flights to remote and mountainous areas of Indonesia. Merpati is banned to fly in Europe because of its poor safety record. In fact, the airline suffered two plane crashes last 2009. The first one was when an airplane lost its front wheels during takeoff, and the other was when a Twin Otter crashed, killing 16 of its passengers.
Papua, a mountain-filled region, has seen a considerable number of air accidents in the past. Last year, several smaller aircrafts and two cargo planes crashed there.
Indonesia has made several efforts to improve its safety record and Merpati is still upgrading its aging fleet.
