Putri Prameshwari

Inspectors Hunt for Clues To Kalimantan Air Crash

Five investigators from the National Transportation Safety Committee are probing the cause of a plane crashing into a hospital in Kalimantan, killing two people, an official said on Friday.

JA Barata, spokesman for the committee, or KNKT, said the investigators were seeking preliminary data as to why the single-engine Fletcher FU24-950 crashed in West Kalimantan on Thursday during ideal weather conditions.

“The weather was fine when they took off from the airport in Ketapang,” Barata said, referring to a city in West Kalimantan.

The aircraft, operated by PT Sinar Mas Super Air, took off from Ketapang at 8:25 a.m. The plane was captained by Sigit Yudiharjo and carrying one engineer, Titut Winarto. It was used by the company for the aerial fertilization of their plantations.

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said that air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane several minutes after take off.

“A few minutes later, they learned that the plane had crashed into Dr. Agoes Djam Hospital,” he said.

Sigit and Titut were killed instantly as the aircraft smashed into the roof of the hospital’s emergency unit before ending up in the parking lot.

State news agency Antara reported that Sigit, a former Air Force pilot, was buried on Friday in his hometown in Cimahi, West Java, while Titut’s body had been sent to the Riau Islands in Sumatra.

Ivung Wijiarto, a security chief of PT Sinar Mas Super Air, was quoted as saying that the aircraft had departed from Pangkal Pinang on the island of Bangka, South Sumatra, one day earlier, but was forced to stay overnight in Ketapang airport because of poor weather conditions.

A recent report released by KNKT stated that 40 people had been killed in air accidents in 2009, a huge increase over 2008, which saw only four fatalities.

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