Hercules ulykken - Oppdatering - 142 døde

Indonesia transport plane crash: More than 100 feared dead

• 16 minutes ago

More than 100 people are feared dead after a military transport plane crashed in a residential area of the Indonesian city of Medan.

The Hercules C-130 plane hit two houses and a hotel before bursting into flames, creating a huge fireball.
Air Force head Agus Supriatna visited the crash site and told reporters he believed there were no survivors among the 113 people on board.
At least 66 bodies have been recovered so far.
A major rescue operation is under way at the site which was covered in flames and thick black smoke.
The BBC's Alice Budisatrijo in Jakarta says that only the tail of the aircraft is still recognisable; the rest has been reduced to debris.
Our correspondent says that there are reports that people are trapped inside wrecked buildings and the nearest hospital is continuing to receive bodies arriving from the crash site.
Many of the passengers are thought to have been relatives of servicemen and women.
It is too early to know exactly how many people were killed in the disaster, or what caused it, our correspondent says.

Comments from an observer:

• C-130’s fly just fine on 3 engines. Making a turn back to the airport with one inoperative is nowhere near impossible. Making a turn back when the airplane is full of fuel and overloaded with passengers, well, that’s entirely different. I have no idea if the airplane was overloaded in this case, but with 100 passengers, it sure sounds like it. Operating the airplane within its designed performance limits is perfectly safe on 3 engines and poses little difficulty for a crew trying to make a return to an airport.
• • The most specific information I saw was that the crew reported engine trouble. I don’t know if they were down to 3 or less engines, but it’s extremely rare to lose more than one in such a short span of time. I’m merely speculating, just like everyone else, but from the few details I’ve read, the most likely scenario is the loss of one engine after takeoff and an overweight return attempt.

    BBC is reporting that there were 113 on board, including crew: