The number of casualties from Tuesday’s crash of an Indonesian air force transport plane in a busy residential area of Medan, Indonesia has reached 141.
According to CNN, the C-130 Hercules American-Manufactured plane crashed just two minutes after takeoff. Capt. Sandhy Permana Alumni, the planes’ pilot, radioed the control tower seconds before the accident, saying he needed to return to the airport because of engine trouble.
There were no survivors on board and several dozen people on the ground were also killed. Questions have arisen as to why authorities allowed anyone to fly the aging aircraft, let alone children and potentially paying passengers.
The AP reported that many of the passengers on board were relatives of military personnel. Family members can board air force flights free with special permission. Hitching rides on military planes to reach remotes destinations in common Indonesia.
But the Indonesia’s air force chief Air Marshal Agus Supriatna told reporters the crashed plane was only authorized to carry military personnel and their families, not paying passengers. Supriatna said he would investigate allegations that the passengers who paid to fly were allowed to board.
At first, the air force reported the plane only had 12 crew members when it crashed. However, Indonesian officials repeatedly raised the numbers of passengers, from five to 20 to 37 to its current tally of at least 141, fueling concerns about a lack of regulation and transparency.
Though there has been rampant speculation as to the quality of the aircraft, the exact cause of the crash is still unclear.
“ There are many possible causes,” military expert Susaningtyas Nefo Handayani Kertopati told the press. “Apart from the age of the airplane, human error could have caused the incident. It’s is possible that the pilot could not control either the field or the aircraft.”
Indonesia’s civil aviation safety record is so shaky the European Union barred Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe between 2007 and 2009. There have been five fatal crashes involving Indonesian air force planes since 2008, according to the Aviation Safety Authority.
