Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of 18 people killed in a plane which crashed into a mountain in Indonesia on Thursday.

The military aircraft came down on Mount Salak 40km (60 miles) south of the capital, Jakarta.

Most of the those on board were military personnel, but three foreign civilians Indonesia to pull out of OPEC ...
Torch set for short Indonesia leg ...
German postal service hit by warning strikes ... were also killed.

The plane had taken off on a short flight from Jakarta.

Its mission was to test ground imaging equipment.

Debris and bodies were scattered over a wide area in a densely forested valley on the mountainside.

Loud explosion

Although the bodies have been recovered, heavy fog is delaying an operation to fly them out by helicopter and return them to Jakarta, said the head of the search and rescue team, Hadi Tugiman.

Rescuers are expected to spend a third night on the mountain waiting for the weather to clear.

Three planes and some 40 people on the ground were involved in the initial rescue effort.

The plane - a Casa C-212 - disappeared from radar screens on Thursday afternoon.

Police say local residents saw the aircraft slam into the mountainside - some heard a loud explosion.

Indonesia has seen a series of air crashes, and its poor safety record has led to all Indonesian airlines being banned from flying to European Union countries.

(BBC)

<< Back