Team Sent to Investigate Merpati Plane Accident

Jakarta (Antara) - The Transport Ministry on Monday sent a team to look into how a Merpati plane skidded off the runway at El Tari airport in the East Nusa Tenggara provincial capital of Kupang earlier in the day. "We have just sent an investigating team there. Our office in the region also has conducted an investigation and the KNKT (national committee for transportation safety) will also do it," he said. The minister said he had yet to be informed about the cause of the accident. "The cause is still unknown. It is the investigators who will know it. Don't ask me about it. I am afraid I will be wrong. It can be engine trouble, human error or control equipment. So everything can happen," he said. He said based on a report 46 passengers and crew members survived the accident and only one person was injured. "But I think what is important, it will be okay if there is something wrong in it (the accident). But for me, the safety of the service users is of paramount importance," he said. It was reported earlier that a Merpati Nusantara Airlines (MNA) plane skidded off the runway while landing at the airport on Tuesday at 09.52 a.m. local time. The accident claimed no casualties but injured 20 people. Five of the injured, including the captain pilot are being treated at WZ Yohanes General Hospital in Kupang for serious injuries. "Twenty-five were taken to the Air Force Hospital. Those lightly injured are being treated at the hospital and those seriously injured including the pilot have been referred to WZ Yohanes General Hospital in Kupang," head of the Air Force Hospital dr. Daiam Sps said. Separately, on Monday, airport duty manager Gabriel Lusi Keraf said the plane carried 46 passengers and four crew members. (*)