[File Photo: Residents in a village in Karo district North Sumatra, Indonesia. Photographer: Kharisma Tarigan/AA]
By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA (AA) : An Indonesian air force plane crashed Tuesday in a residential area of North Sumatra province’s capital, leaving at least five people dead.
Major General Fuad Basya, military spokesman, told Metro TV, “five [bodies] were found so far. They will be moved to the nearest hospital.”
The Hercules-type plane had been carrying 12 crew members when it crashed at 12.08 (0608GMT) shortly after takeoff from the Soewondo Air Force Base in Medan.
“We don’t know yet why it crashed,” Basya had earlier told Anadolu Agency.
“Army commander General Moeldoko has ordered an investigation.”
It had been headed to Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands province, to deliver logistics.
Guntur, a witness who like many Indonesians uses only one name, told Kompas.com that fire and thick smoke could be seen at the site, where the plane had left a small crater in the neighborhood.
Brig. Gen. Dwi Badarmanto, air force chief, said the plane from an airfield in Malang, East Java province, had been tasked with delivering logistics to several other airbases.
